Event

DM2280B spring 2014 · Corcoran School of Art + Design
Instructor: David Ramos (alberto_ramos@corcoran.edu)

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Build a small website for an event that interests you. This project involves the design of system of parts, with many pieces that support a single design concept. Explore ways to make individual pages stand out, but only after you have constructed the fundamental system, and working within the framework that you have constructed.

Process

1. Decide on an event. The project will be easiest if you choose a real event, and one that is not too large. (The Rio 2016 Olympics? Yeah, that’s too large.)

2. Gather information about your event and look at related events and websites. Decide what the site needs to convey and to whom it needs to speak. This is going to be a modest-sized website, so it’s fine to cater to one or two audiences.

3. Once you understand what the site needs to do, start on design. Examine several different approaches. Think about typographic language, photography, color, and concept. Make sketches first.

4. Plan the site’s organizational structure.

5. Refine your initial ideas. Create static wireframes/comps on paper and on the computer.

6. Gather images and text. Most of your text can be dummy text, though you might want to use something more creative than the usual Lorem Ipsum.

7. Produce the site in HTML/CSS.

For due dates, look at the class schedule.

Getting started with code

When you move to HTML/CSS, work from the web1-basic project on GitHub. Don’t download the files, fork the project first.

Objectives

• Organize a website.
• Design using offline sketching processes.
• Bring color and images into a site.
• Create site markup using HTML.
• Format a site using CSS.
• Design a site as a single system, based on templates.

Deliverables

• For design documentation, research, and sketches, bring work on paper or as PDFs or images.
• The final deliverable is one website of 6-10 pages (or the equivalent, with the instructor’s permission), built with handcoded HTML/CSS.

As always, for due dates, look at the class schedule.

Evaluation

• Usability of site structure and navigation
• Visual design, page layout, typography, and readability
• Use of templates and standardized code
• HTML/CSS quality; correct use of tags