Update, Update, Update...

So with the exception of one stubborn link that doesn't want to display its rollover state properly and some symbol depth conflicts, the flash mini-site for AIGA's new blog is complete. I was glad I got the chance to work in a few new snippets of ActionScript 3.0 to better familiarize myself with it. I had a few kinks, but for the most part they have been addressed.

I ended up deciding against making the photos clickable or including a photo gallery in this mini-site, as I realized that a gallery isn't really relevant to the purpose of the mini-site and is probably something much better suited to and more easily accomplished via the blog, given time constraints. Sorry.

Below are the latest screen captures.

I am currently working on redesigning with the style sheet for the blog. I will link the two, and then voila - done-zo. Later on this weekend I will post a few sketches I've got for the portfolio site project.

More to come...




As you can see, the background desktop texture has been altered slightly to play up the wood-grain effect. When it was briefly critiqued in class, a lot of people (Gary included) wanted to do away with the background all-together. But I really feel like without it, the business cards appear to be floating around aimlessly in cyberspace. I think the "desk feel" works to anchor the cards and increase overall theme recognition. Also, for me, it calls to mind the Illustration room which is pretty central to AIGA Truman Chapter, seeing as that's where we meet.

Gary has talked in class a lot about the uselessness of flash design that fails to tell a story. While the scattering business card approach might not necessarily present a "story" perse, it helps to know that the more cards you click on, the more you learn about AIGA Truman Chapter. It's like a gradual unfolding of information...but in no particular order. For example, clicking on the designer quote cards reveals an image of the respective designer, as well as a blurb that links the quote (loosely) back to the goals and benefits of AIGA as a student organization. So in that respect, it manages to remain informative. Everything has a place and a purpose (except for the image cards, but I guess their purpose is "filler").

The photography (all original) at this point is still somewhat tentative, seeing as I'm less than good about using correct file formats for importing images from Illustrator & Photoshop into Flash. Not to mention I'm sometimes a little filter-happy in Photoshop >_<. But no student designer is perfect, and I promise I will get my act together. I'll try to clean up the images before uploading, but next year's AIGA web designer can still tweak and update these and other elements of the design as she sees fit.