Gentle Sweet Website Layout and everything related

This entry is all about the Gentle Sweet website I have made:


Ok. The above is the banner which my friend help me make it (Thuy`). I told her my idea and she made it, and I edited the final version for the website.

The whole website is kind of monochromatic look, I want to use the hue of the chocolate color. Because I think chocolate is relate to sweetness, to love and this is a dating website as well.

Everything in this is done in illustrator.

Below is the Title look for each page. It include a logo and the name of the page. The reason I made this logo look like this is that I want the word "Gentle" sits gently on the "Sweet", to confirm that they are one. Font choice is of course Bickham Script Pro.


And this the background for the homepage which is a free image from DeviantArt (Three hearts - "two heart" by: Falconia). Then I alter the color cast to this color (originally it has a red cast, I think red of course represent love in some way but for me this color give more warm feeling). And my friend help me arrange the text on the background


And finally this is how the website will look like. I like the simple theme. It's easy to navigate, the whole website has the same tone and style. I want it to have unity.
Through this I learn a lot of things. Designing and Coding are 2 completely different parts. It's sure drive me crazy to make it the way I want it to be. Take me 2 consecutive days non-stop working. And I am satisfy with the result. Here it is:

Ok, here is the link again: Gentle Sweet

Font Play

Font play is kind of fun. As Maddy want us to put our font play on blog. So here it is:


I don't want just type in the word so I play around with it and make it. The word "Gentle Sweet" come from my friend after I made the layout of the website and she had a comment that: "This website give me a feeling of a gentle sweet". And I just thought that it's a brilliant name for the website.

Actually I choose Bickham Script Pro to be the font for the Title for this website and my layout based on. But then I want to experience other fonts as well so I made this little thing.

On the right top corner is A Charming Font Superexpanded (a free font I download in dafont.com). It make the "gentle sweet" feels sweet but only slight sweet. The little bit of sharp edges give the feeling of this "sweetness" might be a little bit sour.

Near it on the left is Bleeding Cowboys (also a free font in dafont.com <-- this is a good source of free font). It doesn't seem sweet at all. It even bringing a feeling of bitter, hurtful, nothing sweet. It is the exact opposite of sweetness. Next to it on the right is Bickham Script Pro. This give the true feeling of sweetness. the curve is so smooth, with script style it give off the feeling of gentle, lightness.

Below on the left is A Lolita Scorned. It's kind of the thorn of the Rose. Yes, rose is sure sweet but be careful with the thorn. Sweet but dangerous that what this show.

Below on the right is Adorable. One of my favourite font. I simply use it because I like it. With this word, it give the feeling of elegant sweetness. Sweetness that a little bit over your reach, it feel so close as well as so far.

The last on is akaPotsley. It has sharp edges, as well as curves like the spiral. Actually, it quite strong, even I didn't bold it. It's kind of statement about sweetness, but maybe a little bit of gentle in it.

That's all with this playing.
Actually I choose the background because it kind of represent chocolate color, the sweetness that kind of irresistible.

And here is the link to Dafont.com in case anybody wants it: DAFONT

Available thing in an Unavailable place

This entry is made out of madness (anyway most of my work are made out of that anyway). :D (why why?)
The idea for this is hard to describe. I don't know how to describe that maybe that what the title said.

The story behind this is: the school is full of students, there is no place for me and my friend sit down and try to review our lesson for the webtest. And we can't really discuss in the library(cannot make any noise there). And also so we need 2 sockets for our laptops (there is no available school computer that time - usually rarely available anyway). We found a corridor and 2 sockets so we decided to stay there.

After a while, there's someone coming and yelling at us that we are not allow there, but where should we go now? @-@, we need the sockets. But still have to go.

So you see that why: Available thing (sockets) in an Unavailable place (the corridor).

The picture on the right is the background of this enty (made in Photoshop). I like that kind of texture, so I just make it. (By the way, originally I want the RMIT stuff - the previous entry to be the background, but feel it so crowded so I made this one)

And I play with the word and letter in Illustrator (Now you can understand why there is a socket here - photograph by me and than tracing it using Illustrator)

I tend to break things up and then connect them together again but in a different position, size as well as color.

The P is part of the word "Place", but head of the "P" is part of "Unavailable".

Love to play with words. :D

Getting something else while doing something else (UNTITLE)

I am kind of out of my mind when did this. Originally this supposed to be the background of the other entry but then it doesn't fit so I just made it a separate entry with style. :D

The picture on the left is the original work (made in Illustrator). Want to make the word "RMIT" in a different style but still keep the main theme Black and Red.

I like the idea that we can mix words in different way and then create pattern or image of something. :P

Hope you all can read these letter in this entry. :D. I think the "M" with staircase style is really good at connecting one thing the another.

I want every element be part of another element so this is how it works: "P" is part of "M", "M" is part of "I" and "I" is part of "T".

This is an unbalance image. At first the white was intended to use for another thing (socket) but then I think it's quite ok with the way it is.

But I feel it quite plain just like that. So I take the picture to "magic" Photoshop. :D

Here I have (3 next images):
I made a layer with cloud. And then blending, mixing, playing, crazying with it so here you go.





I personally like the last one. It feel more comfortable for the eyes, the other the 2 is quite disturbed, uneasy feeling.

The 2nd is quite cool. It feels like old building that has been burned.

Gestalt - >_<

Ok. This is my work for gestalt in last and at home in 2 different style.

1st one is:

- This is the one I and my friend working together in class. :D but then I did some changes at home. And above is what it look like now.
- I took some advices from Maddy to change the size of the font and use closure to place the word "Sex"

2nd one is:

- And this is the one I made at home. I want to try to add another picture of flower to this, so it quite hard try to put all the elements together. But it came out not too bad though. >_<. - I want the words "the Secret" kind of going around the flower. The main words are either in Capital letters, different font or bigger size.

Starvation

Starvation is something we in a country like VN may not be able to imagine how hard it would be. Death maybe the only way out for you. This entry dedicates for that meaning.

When Maddy asked us to layout a picture and a sentence to represent STEALING, I suddenly thought of African Children who have to face Starvation as well as Death everyday.

Stealing is simply to imply that someone, something has taken away from you something. That something may not only be money but also love, hope.

When you live in a place like Africa, you just eat to survive. But the starvation is like a nightmare that has haunted these people, these children for years

Death may not be the answer to everything but it would be a nice way out for someone. Especially for the one who wants to escape from the long last nightmare.

Death maybe bad but "Thanks to" that the child no longer suffers the hunger anymore.

Technique: Pretty simple, everything is done in Illustrator, the tricky part is to find out the sentences (thanks to Miss Thuy` and myself for that) and layout the words to serve the content.

I chose 2 fonts in this work.
- 1 font is standing out to emphasize the words "Death" and "Starvation". To show the weights of 2 things are equal. I choose the nice, fancy looking font because I want this to look like a postcard, to fantasize "Death" and "Starvation".
- The rest for the words a in the same font, pretty simple font.
- "my" is much smaller than "Starvation" to imply that how small the little child is compare to the enormous affect of "Starvation"
- Size of fonts are different base how important the meaning they are carrying.

And this is a little postcard for you guys made in flash.
Here is the link (for better view version of this): Starvation

Nelson Lake

After some "Evanescence stuff", I am kind of into landscape, nature............. So I go through my photos and find this picture.
This picture is Nelson Lake. Where I used to live last year. >_<. So beautiful, wanna come there again. ^_^

ORIGINAL:



FUN WITH PHOTOSHOP:

BTW, I am not a Photoshop expert. @_@. But what the hell, I don't care. >_<. So I made this picture by alter the channel, and then changing each Hue, Staturation, Brightness, Contrast in each channel. Then subtract one channel, then changing the Hue, Staturation, Brightness, Contrast again. So this is what I got.



There's really not true intention in this. I made this because of the third picture you will see below. When I create the third picture below, I suddendly feeling like playing with photoshop. >_<. :P


This is the main purpose of this entry (HAHAHA ---> Save the best for last ^_^):



When I am reading the book "The anatomy of Design" (by Steven Heller <--- the one I gonna write my report on ^O^), I come across a picture of the text like coming out of the city, stream............. That's so cool. I wanna have one. so I made this.

Actually I took me more time than I had imagined it would. But it turns quite satisfy me ^_^.
The idea is that, text and picture can "marriage together" like any other element even though the image you haven't really alter. The text like tree coming out of the forest or water come out of lake.
The reason I choose this font because I bringing the feeling of Winter, of Snow, of Coldness, when the picture have taken.

PS: Totally recommend that every design student shoud read the books by Steven Heller. He's so good. >_<

Evanescence - Good Enough

- Ok. This entry is inspired by The Video Clip: "Good Enough" by Evanescence. And here what I made using Illustrator and Photoshop.



- First I want to tell you guys why I made this based on what I understand about the lyrics as well as the video Clip:

+ IDEA: Pretty simple for this one. I want to express my own way how Evanescence express her feeling in this song.
I think that this singer like gothic style ---> that how I choose the font for her name, and then I alter a font a bit. And Dark Blue (nearly go to black) is the main color in the movie clip. As well as Dark Blue asociate with "out of blue", -> despressed, sadness.
The title "Good Enough" --> Red, because there a line in the lyrics: "crave my heart and its bleeding in your hand", hurtful feeling, make our heart aching.
The rose petals form the shape of a heart. Rose petals - softness,fragile - are flying, slowly breaking apart

+TECHNIQUE: Overall dark looking.
Illustrator for the typography
Photoshop for finishing everything up (add brushes....)

Through this I learnt a very IMPORTANT lesson that you HAVE TO know what kind of format you are saving with. Because I made the typography in Illustrator first so when I save the file as JPEG I forgot to choose RGB. Then I take it to Photoshop, it automatically use the CMYK model. After finishing, I upload len Blogger, and............. @_@ the color went totally crazy. OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Second I want to talk about the video because it's so inspiring. >_<

This is the cover for Evanescence Single - Good Enough:

http://www.evanescencefan.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/good-enough-cover.jpg

And this is the Video Clip:

Directed by: Marc Webb and Rich-Lee.

This video clip is so marverlous. The whole theme is unique and unity, the gothic look. And the special effect is WAO. You cannot even recoginze the changing in the effect. It look so real, even you know it's impossible for the tree to grow that fast, but you cannot not say it's fake. The transition is very smooth, it flow with the lyrics.

At first I didn't even listen to this song but after seeing the video, I am so impressed by it, then I start to get interested in the song as well.