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Today, July 2011, I am interested in capability of the aesthetics of web design.
How does the design impact on the visitor to take him into the site?
‘Julies Cake House’ is an example. How could I tempt the visitor into tasting a cake?; To get excited by the Julie’s cake decorations, so much so that they would order a cake to be decorated by Julie then and there - and to have repeat orders at times of celebration.
Julies Cake House - design ideas
Think birthday, think christening, think celebration - and immediately Julie’s cakes invade the visual imagination and taste buds.
Ideas for Home Page
Julie likes the idea of the shop like Carlos’s Cake Shop online or Willy Wonka Factory [Julie’s idea] -
but this gave me the idea of animals and people made of sugar clambering over a tiered cake.
So I adapted Carlos’s shop for Julie with balloons and cakes and floating balloon fish to make the site stimulating - Placing the images as in the Zen Garden Titbits site.
I had to learn some new techniques in Fireworks to use composite images, and to use transparency as a background colour. And I can do these things ... I can talk about this if need be in future.
Create the atmosphere of the site ....
Menu and leaflet
Navigation on the idea of a menu as you would find in a shop or a shop or a restaurant - Used background image of a cover off the Internet - Menu cover.
Also use of a leaflet for the Special offer. And the classes and the awards need to be on the home page and next to the exciting statement of what the cake house offers - And an image of Julie at work.
Use of quotations
A cake for each section with a quotation next to it. [Julie’s idea]
Effective images
The images are much more effective with light shining on them - icing glistens in the light. Better to have the background rid, and the cakes standing alone
I used the cakes stacked up in composite picture, and this gives a feeling of depth, of 3D. This works on Home page.
Classes - Decorating Classes
Archive required to give feel of what the classes have to offer
Ribbons
Between the sections the use of ribbon made from a series of small images. These can be produced easily and of limitless supply.
Galleries of images
Galleries of enlarge images can be seen - people are used to experience these on many websites.
Tyneside Cake Decorating
Serves Tyneside
Delivery service in Tyneside - a tariff if outside the delivery area.
July 5 2011
I have been wearing corsets, and I am throwing them off!
Corsets - throw off and be free
So much is enclosed in boxes and I am sick of it. the bloody images get trapped inside borders; and even if there is no border there is still the straight edge of the image - so that is the same thin in the mind. Trapped, and I want out.
So what have I done! Visited the zen garden. That is the place for rumination, and what I came into my thoughts was the 'Peace of Mind' site. Julie, have a look in the Zen Garden and see where I have got some of my ideas from the ‘Peace of Mind’ in Zen Garden .
There is a spaciousness in 'Peace of Mind' which is so graceful and luxurious.
Cake wonderland
The Cake House should be a Willy Wonka wonderland like Julie suggested. This is what I am after.
The cakes present themselves out of her workshop in wonderland, presenting themselves in their luxurious deliciousness. Oh for a bite; juices to tingle, sensational. Three-dimensional - so the cakes offer themselves out of the shop onto your tongue, lips of crumb.
So the background is white at the moment, but will be developed later - a soft dreamlike haze of cake wonderland. But that can wait for the moment.
The images to have no edges, so work in Fireworks to re-do them. Today’s task.
Willy Wonka Factory - Julie makes her cakes
I like the image of Julie working, but needs to replace by an image of her working on a spectacular creation partly completed - full version advertised in the for sale section!
Julie is to be working in her workshop. How to create this? That is the problem to resolve today.
Well, the best I could do was to get Julie into the clouds, this special other place (and I don’t mean the House of Lords!) where she dreamed up her cake designs. Come to think of it she could have been up in the mountains in a Cake Decorating Castle.
I worked in Fireworks, and managed to get rid of any edges to images - still a little to do. Some greater practice required, but the idea is the important consideration at the moment. Skills can be honed. But they amount to little without the imagination.
Julie will have her own ideas
Ribbons - straight and curvy
Ribbons - tried to construct a curved ribbon, and though possible time consuming technically - unless I discover shortcut. - So I got the ribbon as an image and used the z-index to achieve the effect of three-dimension.
Select Cake Decoration
I have not resolved this in my own mind. Easy enough to leave a plain list, but what would Willy Wonka’s factory have to advertise their sweets?
Decided to keep it plain as per Dazzling Beauty’ in Zen Garden.
Use of marker as an image rather than the conventional bullet. This will be replaced by a wee cake! or what is required.
Galleries of Images
Galleries of images are surprisingly easy to prepare in Adobe Bridge.
The work is in collecting good quality images of the appropriate size.
Collection of available cakes
How are these to be displayed?
Extras
How are these to be arranged in the far right column?
Individual cake pages
Click on the displayed cake and there onto the page with the detail of the cake: bigger image; details of extras - need to be arranged on the same page - suggestions for that particular cake presumably. I’m not sure how this operates. Julie consultation required.
Cake Toppers
Arranging the cake toppers needs to be done - left as a rank of images - but really need to consult ho they fit into the selling of the cake designs. Maybe this will throw up ideas on how they can be displayed.
Quotations of past customers need to be sprinkled around the site, including the toppers and extras.
Website design ideas
I have played around with web design for a few years, and started when I became frustrated with the friend who designed websites but did not update as required. A busy folk club in Leeds demanded regular updating.
So I bought a book. It has been a long road, I can tell you.
Advised to learn HTML and Css rather than rely on off-the-shelf website design kits has been valuable. Kits have their place, but I wanted to get to the guts of websites - peer under the bonnet. I hadn’t bargained on the complexity of computer technology!- constrained by complexity.
Witness the beauty of website design exemplified by the Zen Garden. Here is a means to effectively convey meaning in text and image, but through creative design.
HTML and Css
I limited to myself to learning HTML and Css, though I have dipped into a wee bit of PHP and Flash.
Images work is done in Photoshop and Fireworks. I use what I need.
Sound recordings with MP3 files and video recordings also included.
Website content is the key
Folk Leads began as a published magazine, and the Guardian website my guide, a prize winning newspaper and website. Now free
Visual impact and stimulation
Today, July 2011, I am interested in capability of the aesthetics of web design.
How does the design impact on the visitor to take him into the site.
‘Julies Cake House’ is an example. How could I tempt the visitor into tasting a cake; become excited by Julie’s cake decorations, compelled to order a cake decorated by Julie then and there - and to have repeat orders at any time of celebration?
Think birthday, think christening, think celebration - and immediately Julie’s cakes invade the visual imagination and taste buds.