driving home for the weekend

Right, this is the first chance ive had to update this badboy since my last post. After the revelation that the deadline had been moved to Friday, I was able to relax a bit more about the complexity of the task ahead. Ben spent most of the afternoon laying down some flash gold-dust which started to develop new possibilities in my mind about how I could construct a website. Sadly I was finding it difficult to relate it any of it to my current idea.

I had also questioned how both HTML/CSS and Flash could be used in the same context. Surely if you were willing to produce a complex animation in flash then it would be easier to incorporate the other aspects of the site into or around this animation. Then i remembered the example, whereby the artist had taken an assorted of pictures of his/her house and displayed them in a simple yet dynamic manner. Something which i think could be achieved by scripting HTML.

Anyway I ended up driving home pretty late…(well it was dark, was probably around half 4). The ipod was on shuffle and as usual I was knee deep in traffic. Suddenly, Daft Punk’s ‘technologic’ came up, and suddenly I was inspired by the flowing, rap-style lyrics and of course the infectious beat. My mind suddenly filled with images relating to the individual words used, how this could be displayed as a flowing animation to co-inside with the songs structure. I ended up putting the song on repeat and letting my mind fill with new ideas and concepts.

As soon as I got home i scribbled this notes down and drew up plans of the interface and how the user would navigate around the site. I then went and got suitable drunk *it was a friday* but I shall upload these drawings in the morning.

Mapping my food consumption

My new idea then, is to map my food intake over the following weekend and represent it as a visual interface. The interface will consist solely as one page with various animated buttons controlling the content on screen. There will by a time slider at the bottom (inspired by the Olympic Maps *see below*) to enable the user to navigate between different stages across the weekend. Each individual piece of food will be represented as a graphic symbol, which i intend to design in Illustrator. Each symbol will be made into a button which, when clicked, will not only change shape to represent its eaten state but also initiate a pop-up to appear with information regarding the specific food.

Above is a diagram of each food group. This graphic will not only provide the basis for aesthetics but also some vital nutritional information. Oh and I may also grade myself like they seem to have done here. However, they seem to have given what looks like soil +6. Still each to their own

A slight setback.

Ok, so Id spent quite along time on my initial idea. It was as follows.

To map the growth of a plant, from seed to bloom and develop a connection between the plants development and my own as a designer. Links, images and videos would sprout from the root tips and as the user navigate further into the site more content would become available.

However, after having a meeting with Simon and some other folks in the class, I began to question the idea. For one thing I had inadvertently chosen a subject area which others were already dominanting, with far more developed concepts than my own. I had also given the actual content very little thought, as Simon said by making it personal i had made it both harder and easier on myself *don’t worry it made sense to us*. Basically i would have to decide to either narrow down the content to a specific area or face vast amounts of information falling on top of me. I doubt i would have emerged before Wednesday. I was shown a link from tokyoplastic.com where there was a similar interface, far beyond anything I will able to create, especially in a week. Which left me thinking, crack on with something i knew in the back of my mind would be inferior to something already out there or go for something different.

I went with the latter.

Saving the best till last…

The maps below use circles, which are sized by the number of medals that countries won in the Olympic Games. They have used a scroll bar to enable the user to navigate between individual years with which the Olympic games were held.

Also each circle operates as a button, when hovered over with the mouse, a little pop-up informs you of that particular Country and the number of medals won. When pressed a little drop down menu appears to inform you of where in each medal was won (i.e the event) and by whom (the athlete).

There is an unquestionable simplicity about each map, and although seeming quite abstract at first, it offers all of the relevant detail just in a delightful visual manner. *link on the bogroll*

The map below is simply the same idea just oragnised in a manner which shows the descending order of each countries medal totals.

Strange Maps..

I stumbled across these fantastic abstract maps at http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/.

Each example offers a unique format for representing information. It fascinates me, how sometimes the most basic and uninspiring data can be given visual beauty by an artist or designer.

This map, is one of a series made with bank notes by artist Justine Smith (another one, inevitably, is Euro Europe, made up of euro notes).

POP V SODA.

“When on a hot summer’s day you buy a carbonated beverage to quench your thirst, how do you order it? Do you ask for a soda, a pop or something else? That question lay at the basis of an article in the Journal of English Linguistics (Soda or Pop?, #24, 1996) and of a map, showing the regional variation in American English of the names given to that type of drink.”

Sound Mapping

“”Streetscape“, by Japanese artist Iori Nakai, is a plastic map with the sounds of the city “attached” to it. When tracing over the city’s white map with a special pen, you can hear everyday noises that were recorded at that particular location: conversations, passing traffic, and all the ambient sounds that make a city”

Maps are abstractions of reality, virtual diagrams used to construct or record a persons understanding of a space or navigation route.

Artists Inpired by Maps

“Emma Johnson’s work deals with issues of deconstruction and transformation, the recycling of materials, and the ambiguity of communication – as well as the obsessive repetitive actions used in the making of the work. Road maps are reconstructed into artworks which stand as a tangible and symbolic presence of the information contained within, but are virtually unreadable.”

I found this piece of work intriguing. Its simplistic style has been executed in such a complicated manner that im unsure we would appreciate its true value without all contextual information. I think its amazing the leap the human brain has to make to associate the images its given into its represented meaning.

For more cracking examples, hit the link on the right entitled. NORTH HOUSE GALLERY

IM NOT QUITE SURE..

Make of this what you will…I found it oddly interesting.

“This is a rough sketch of a more advanced knowledge map that has never been drawn.” – R.B.Wild (“Non-Geo” Graphical Information Systems, with a particular focus on Mapping Knowledge Domains. I’m interested in creating visualizations of ‘ideas’ that do not necessarily have a geo basis to them).

Upside-down Map of the world

This is a really simple concept, flipping the atlas on top of itself. Yet it reveals alot more about the world we live in. Personally I didn’t realise how vast the Southern ocean is, its literally endless, wrapping itself around the globe.

Its also quite interesting to notice how most countries are situated in the northern hemisphere, something which i have never appreciated.

Yet another example of how effective a simple idea can be

source: http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/resourcebank/maps/page3.html

Brief 4

Yes, Brief 4. And I feel this one is gonna be a good’en

Create a map…(maybe not…haha kidding)…of a location, or an aspect of a location of your choice. The work should be manifested as a website comprising Flash and HTML/CSS, combining all of these elements….You are not limited to text and static images, you can use audio, animation, video etc

Using your design skills, create an experience which is interesting and captivating. Create consistent considered navigation and information architecture (link styles etc). Show an understanding of Accessibility issues. Document your process and research in your blogs.

Right, stay tuned, I shall return.