Gandhi_ProjectA_unit4

Savannah College Of Art And Design Page 1

Unit 3: PROJECT A: DREAMWEAVER WEB SITE


Unit 4: PROJECT A: DREAMWEAVER WEB SITE

GANDHI - THE MAHATMA

Course: ITGM 715: Interactive Web Design

Summer Quarter 2010

June 21 – August 26

Professor David E. Meyers

Student:

Maitreyee Murani

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~mmuran20/ITGM/mmurani_projectA_unit4.pdf

Date:

July 012, 2010


CONTENTS 4 Design narrative

6 Design brief

8 Competition

9 Sitemap

10 Preliminary concept sketches

a. Look and Feel - Type Studies

b. Look and Feel - Color Studies

15 Initial design comps - concept 1

17 Initial design comps - concept 2

26 Final design comps - concept 2 - HISTORIC, RETRO, ARTSY

………………..


DESIGN NARRATIVE

Design Purpose

Description:

Using Macromedia Dreamweaver and any tools you prefer to use for image creation (Photoshop, Illustrator, Image Ready,

Fireworks, Digital camera, scanner, etc.), create a fully functioning Web site on the artist or artwork of your choice.

Your content should include information about something or someone that has inspired you, presented in a compelling way so as to

communicate to others what you like about it. Your site can feature a visual artist, performer, curator, film, exhibition, etc. You are

free to choose from any influential artist or artwork, but be sure that your research will provide both imagery and explanatory text

that you can use in your site.

Requirements:

• Your site must be well designed and communicate clearly to an intended audience.


o Please post (to the Unit 2 Discussion forum) a design brief that indicates the overall concept for your piece (what is

the subject matter, and in what context will it be presented). Indicate who your intended audience is and how you

wish to address that audience.

o To be well designed, your site should:

� be laid out in a clear and organized manner

� indicate a hierarchy of information

� include typefaces that are appropriate for headings and subheadings and can visually communicate the look

and feel of your piece

� have a consistent and coherent scheme of colors and decorative elements

� Have a strong composition.

• Your design must be uniquely yours.

• Your site must have at least four separate sections or pages, including:

o background or historical information about the artist or work

o your interpretation and impressions of the artwork

o a gallery with imagery and examples (which may require subpages)

o Resources for additional information.

• Each page must have a means to access any other page in the site, using devices such as a global navigation system.

• All links must contain default and rollover graphics.

• Content should include both text and imagery.

• Include at least one external link that opens in a separate browser window.

• Define the styles of your HTML text and store those styles in a separate CSS document to be used site-wide.

Deliverables:

Project deliverables include concept sketches, site map, look-and-feel explorations, design comps, and fully functioning site

project files. You will submit your site folder as a zipped file.


Timeline:

• Unit 1: Begin thinking about your project topic and jotting down ideas in your sketchbook.

• Unit 2: Your design brief (as described above), concept sketches on paper, and a site map prepared in Illustrator or another

drawing program are due at the beginning of this unit.

• Unit 3: You should have documents showing your exploration of look and feel, along with initial design comps prepared in

Photoshop, Illustrator, or another drawing program. Comps should show at least two separate concepts, with two site pages

from each. Comps are due at the beginning of this unit.

• _ Unit 4: Submit final design comps. These should be revised, fleshed-out versions of the comps you prepared for Unit 3.

You should have chosen one design direction and made changes to it in response to your most recent critique.

• _ Unit 5: Your complete functioning Web site is due at the beginning of this unit.


DESIGN BRIEF

Overall Concept:

After considerable thought and researching different contents I decide feature the historic figure Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

or simply (Gandhi as popularly known) in my site.

The reasons I choose the above influential person are quite a few:

• Firstly, he was an influential leader from my country – INDIA and how Gandhi our “father of the nation” struggled hard

and gave his life like many others to get back India’s independence.

• Secondly, I find that there are diverse websites featuring his books, organizations affiliated to his name, videos, websites

that are more like blogs etc. But still, I do not find any aesthetic website which is vast enough to be dedicated to the

leader, the way he dedicated his life to our nation and his people.

• The third reason is a very personal one - that my late father had given his book (the original and first translation - by

Navjivan Publishing) to me out of his cherished library collections, and had asked me to read it and do something

interactive with it (like a website)…. I still have his book which holds his signature and always reminds me of him.

• I would like to dedicate the first ever website that I could learn and create to my father and also to the “father of the

nation”.


Subject matter:

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

Known as 'Mahatma' (great soul), Gandhi was the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, and is widely

considered the father of his country. His doctrine of non-violent protest to achieve political and social progress has been hugely

influential.

Context:

I would like to present this historical figure in the context of his own book “My Experiments with Truth” - the autobiography of

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (or Mahatma Gandhi) that covers his life from early childhood through to 1920, and is a popular

and influential book.

I shall try to present his point of view - his ideologies, life and works, his philosophy of nonviolence, for which he coined the

term “satyagraha’, has influenced nonviolent resistance movements to this day.

Intended Audience:

The intended audience are the present day youth world wide - and especially Indian Americans, who are so far away from their

origins. Sadly, most of them do not even know about how their fore - fathers struggled and gave up not only the luxuries and

mundane riches but also their lives so that us - we the contemporary Indians get a dignified, educated and free life.

I would especially like to target those youth / people who always categorize India as being a “developing third world country”.


How I wish to address the Audience:

I wish to address and inform the audience about - Gandhi as a person, about his actions, his ideology, what he truly believed in,

how he went about achieving his goal, how he dressed like, the reasons for his changes in his demeanor / outward manner etc. I

would like to highlight Gandhi’s traits which include -

• Determination

• Honesty

• Struggle

• Non violent

• Old, bald and frail

• Simple

• Experimenter or investigator

• Moralistic

• Leader, fighter

• Father of the nation

• Non conventional

• Very educated

• Successful


COMPETITION

There are numerous web sites dedicated to GANDHI. They portray his videos, biography, historical timeline, galleries and much

more. They are more like compiled researches in one place and also seem to be less dull - look and feel wise. Some of these sites

also focus on featuring other freedom fighters and movements in addition to Gandhi.

I would strive to bring a very simplified and pleasing feel and concept to my web site dedicated to Gandhi - unlike just documenting

his life descriptively. I would also like my site to have a simple navigation structure that would continue to hold the interest of my

intended target audience.

Here are some of the websites on Gandhi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi

http://www.mkgandhi.org/

The website includes chronologies, articles and links to biographies and an autobiography of Gandhi.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083987/

This is the website about the film on Gandhi.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083987/

Gandhi’s quotations are found here.


http://www.gandhiinstitute.org/

Institute on Gandhi.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/gandhi_mohandas.shtml

This is BBC’s website on historic figures.

http://www.mkgandhi-sarvodaya.org/

This is a very comprehensive resource on Gandhi. But its looks more like some kind of a complex blog. It does not have an

effective hierarchy, or look and feel, or color or typographic balance and harmony. It does not do justice to the life of Gandhi

as a resource and it can be designed in a much better way.


SITE MAP

I will attempt to adhere to the above sitemap for my web site. I have listed the pages of the web site and tried to organize them in

hierarchical manner. This will be a helpful aid in designing, organizing and forming navigation links.


PRELIMINARY CONCEPT SKETCHES

Sketch 1:


Concept Sketch 1:

I have the HOME page and then the subsequent pages for LIFE, IMPRESSIONS

and GALLERY AND RESOURCES. I also have an ABOUT US and

CONTACT US page. I have also tried to establish hierarchy of information and set navigation for the above pages / sections in

the following sitemap.

LOOK AND FEEL -

* This web site can be “somber, natural and authentic” - in its look and feel.

* I would use the hand woven cloth background that is so synonymous with Gandhi.

* Visual hierarchy can be established by using Hand drawn / Script typeface with coloured effects for titles and headlines. Sub

headlines and body copy will be san serif legible font.


Sketch 2:


Concept Sketch 2:

I have the HOME page and then the subsequent pages for LIFE, IMPRESSIONS

and GALLERY AND RESOURCES with their subsequent pop up links. I also have an ABOUT US and CONTACT US page.

LOOK AND FEEL -

* I would say that this site shall be “historic, retro and artsy” - in its look and feel.

* I would use cut out images with transparent backgrounds

* Pictures will have pencil sketch effect or appear hand drawn.

* Visual hierarchy can be established by using Serif typeface with bold, italic or coloured effects for titles, headlines, and sub

headlines. Text / body copy will be san serif legible font.


LOOK AND FEEL - Type Studies:


LOOK AND FEEL - Color Studies:

A. “Somber, Natural and Authentic”


LOOK AND FEEL - Color Studies:

B. “Historic, Retro and Artsy”


DESIGN COMP 1

. “Somber, Natural, Authentic”




DESIGN COMP 2

“Historic, Retro and Artsy”




PRESENTING

FINAL FLESHED OUT DESIGN COMPS

“CONCEPT - Historic, Retro and Artsy”


1. HOME PAGE


2. LIFE


3. IMPRESSIONS


4. GALLERY


5. RESOURCES


LOT OF WORK / UPDATE STILL COMING UP IN UNIT 5 - THANKS - MAITREYEE

Gandhi_ProjectA_unit4

Documents

design page

design brief

initial design comps

site map

site folder

final design comps concept

functioning web site

dreamweaver web site