Week 10- Making Something Cool

This week we were put into groups and showed our work on the brief so far to each other. My group really liked my Photoshop mockups. They liked all of the backgrounds I used and how it was laid out. Then the tutor came over to look at our work and told me he liked what I had done but there were a few problems with it:

-The backgrounds I used were not created by me, they were free wallpapers downloads and I edited
them to fit the design specified. The tutor suggested I should make my own backgrounds as it would look more professional.

-A good place to start for images is the assets that were give to us with the brief. I really should be using those images now.

-The homepage had some cool imagery but it didn't display the actual products. This is something I will need to implement.

- I need to do a lot more research too. This will give me a better idea of exactly what to have in my design. I will also know what images to make myself.

We then had a look at some well designed clothing websites in groups. We were recommended a website called thefwa.com which is a real authority figure in web design.

Major Brief: Reseach

Before making the website, I need to do a lot of research to know enough context and styles. I came
across a timeline of Levis clothing, I took down important times in their career here:

"1853:
LEVI STRAUSS & CO. FOUNDED
Bavarian-born Levi Strauss moves to Gold Rush era San Francisco to open a dry goods business. He sold clothes, boots and other goods to the small retail stores of the American West."

"1873:

THE BLUE JEAN IS BORN
Jacob Davis, a tailor from Reno, Nevada, teams with Levi Strauss to create riveted-for-strength workwear made of true blue denim. On May 20, 1873 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants patent #139,121 to Levi Strauss & Co. and Jacob Davis for their invention. This is how the blue jean, originally called "XX," was born."

"1902:
A PHILANTHROPIC SPIRIT
When Levi Strauss passes away in September, his four nephews take over the business and carry out his numerous bequests to Bay Area charities serving children and the poor."

"1908:
THE HORSES GO GLOBAL
The Two Horse trademark is registered in Japan and Levi's® global reach begins in earnest with markets like Australia and South Africa soon to follow."

"1912:
CHILD'S PLAY
LS&CO. introduces Koveralls for children, a one-piece denim playsuit. This year also sees the introduction of fine khaki pants and coats to the company's line of clothing."

"1918:
FOR THE LADIES
Freedom-Alls make their appearance. This tunic/trouser outfit was designed to give women freedom of movement and release them from the restrictive clothing of the era."

"1950s:
BANNED
The 1950s saw denim banned in some schools, especially in the East, for being a bad influence. The portrayal of denim-clad "juvenile delinquents" in movies and on tv led many school administrators to prohibit denim in the classroom, fearing that wearing the rebel uniform would lead students push against authority in all of its forms."

"1961:
KIDS THESE DAYS
The new, slimmer silhouettes of the 1960s inspire Slim Fits, a 5-pocket twill trouser for young men. Teenagers call them White Levi's® because no one knows what to call blue jeans that aren’t blue."

"1973:
THE ART OF DENIM
The company announces the Levi's® Denim Art Contest, and invites consumers to submit photos of their decorated jeans and jackets for a special judging. The winners tour American folk art museums during 1975."

"1996:
RETRO CHIC
The history of Levi’s® is kept alive through the launch of Levi's®Vintage Clothing, a line that faithfully reproduces the fits, fabrics and characteristics of historic Levi's® garments."

Week 9- More about the brief & Class CV site

We dived into the brief a lot more today. I learned that research is a very important part in order to get the finished product right. I have to take into account the target audience, what is considered 'cool', Pop Art from the past and present and more.

We also continued the CV site as a class. We went into more detail in the coding section and I learned some good techniques when styling the site and organisation with the folders. I also learned some nice keyboard short cuts.

Week 8- Brief Recap & Co-op Web Design

This week we went into a bit more detail about the brief. We also started building a CV site as a whole class. The tutor went through the process with us step by step. It was a fun and interactive task to make the site as a group. Having the process broken down in a step by step manner was useful too and I really began to understand how to code and how to go about designing the site in Photoshop.

Research: The History of Pop Art

Pop Art started to become a movement around the mid 1950s in Britain and later spread to the United States. The movement was quite challenging to more traditional forms like Fine Art; a lot of the Pop Art work involve Pop Culture in some way. For example, using visuals from the news or adverts and then taking them out of context and combining unrelated materials to them. Because artists in the movement would take such items and use them in their work, Pop Art was often labelled as similar to Dada.

Reseach: Pop Art Web Design

After going through the history of Pop Art, I feel ready to consider how my site will look, so I have been looking for website using Pop Art styles in their design:

Week 7- The Major Brief (after Worcester week)

This week we were given the details to our major briefing. We have been tasked to create a website portraying what a pop-artist would be making today. The website has to be 'cool' and must show off Levis vintage products. This will require a lot of research and design sketches to get it right.

We also continued with our CV websites and I feel like I am making good progress with it. I was struggling with trying to get it to be more responsive to different screen resolutions. I was then taught that putting the whole thing in a container and using percentages made things a lot neater in smaller screens.