Creative Statement

Creative Statement Week Three


Name your intended audience (the person(s) you need to persuade.)

As my platform is essentially the visual beauty of the written word, as well as literature itself, my target audience will be on the higher end of the educational spectrum. Age group will be between 28-45. Though the age group nearly spans 20 years, the fact that this incorporates college graduates and people who continue to educate themselves beyond the necessities found in a curriculum will therefore narrow down the size of the target. Education level for my target audience, as mentioned above, will be Bachelor’s Degrees and above. Also, the target audience will consist of those who continue to educate themselves beyond the scope of earning a degree. Financial statistics for my target audience are irrelevant, as my products revolve around literature and books, which will not exceed prices of 20 USD.

Describe what you need to inform and persuade them of:

To promote my product, I will need to utilize styles and themes that are indicative of my writing genre. As my work generally tends towards medieval and mythological ideals, the themes will gravitate more towards earthly tones, mixed with more a gothic style of writing: In addition, the artwork that will be used will conjure images of knights, castles, ancient battlegrounds, ancient technology, as well as calligraphy seen in works such as the Book of Kells. I will also incorporate drawings and artworks I have done myself that relate to the books I have written and am promoting. Also, as typography is one of my focuses, I will have selections posted randomly as either background images or as simple decorations to enhance the tonal message.

The goals of the site are: To promote myself as a graphic artist and an author. With the invent of eBooks, many authors have been coming out of the woodwork, as there are barely any production costs associated with electronic publishing. To stand out from this abundance, I wish to showcase myself as not only an author, but as a graphic artist and designer that incorporates artistic design into the cover and the body of the work.

The ultimate message/philosophy (about who you are): I am a writer and an artist. I wish to be able to tell my stories through artistic design on top of the creative aspects of my story-telling. It’s not just about telling the story; it’s visualizing the ambiance through simple designs and themes that conjure images that will only enhance the experience. I am a disciple of tradition when it comes to telling a tale. I am not about mass-publication. My design is specific and unique, as are my stories.

What is the story you are telling? There are several stories that I am telling, as I am a story-teller. However, the story behind the website is one of an author who wishes to be the driving force behind all aspects of book publication: from the concept of the story to actual binding of the book. It is the story of someone who is enamored by the written word. I wish for people to see me as someone beyond an author. I want them to see me as an artist beyond words.

What descriptive words can you use to describe the ‘vibe’ of your site: Mysterious and ominous, as the stories I write are of the darker sort. Decorative, as the type I will be using will be more than just body type. Shadowy; intriguing; cold/passive, yet inviting; Medieval; haunting.

Write a 200 word concept statement based on the user, your persuasion, navigation and the assets: The written word has taken many forms and has evolved over the centuries to conform to the needs of the reigning societies and civilizations. It is my purpose to preserve the aesthetics of our ancient ways of telling stories, as well as to maintain the interests of an ever-changing demographic. I intend to marry classical technique with modern scope. The invent of the eBook has addressed two main concerns that have kept people from having a library: (1) With a Kindle or other portable electronic device, there is no further need for shelf space. (2) Costs for buying an eBook are significantly lower than an actual paperbound book. As such, the general public of readers has turned more to digital than tangible and look for something to read with ease. However, regardless of this increased urgency and impatience, readers still look for themes that pertain to their interest. Therefore, I wish to showcase my work through the ideals, styles and themes that pertain to a more medieval way of life, much to the genre of fantasy and mythology.
The navigation will be simple, with a maximum of a dozen pages through which to peruse. The decorations will seem dark and shaded, but the imagery will be intriguing, much like the feeling we get when we look into a haunted forest. Our minds tell us it is dark and foreboding, but we are still persuaded by curiosity to press on ahead. Those who read fantasy and mythology are prone to visuals, which is why my gallery will showcase map drawings, and other assets of character rigs that pertain to my stories. There will also be random placement of typography that will be in the theme of medieval and ancient styles.

List the assets you need to persuade the user: I will be showcasing the most recent book series that have been published: All three books of the Arterian Redemption; the four books written so far in the Witching Hour series; the first book in the Broken Judgment; and the first book of the Calistis Series (The Nequia). These selections will be shown with a selected background that relates to the subject matter (Haunted forests for the Witching Hour, scenes from the underworld for the Nequia, Castles and rolling landscapes for the Arterian Redemption, and a graveyard for the Broken Judgment. Also, there will be map drawings that will be done through Illustrator shown in a gallery for people to view. This will be for the Arterian Redemption. This will include scanned images of the original map drawings adjacent to finished and polished works through illustrator. If given enough time, there will also be a couple character models of some of the creatures featured in the Arterian Redemption and the Witching Hour that will be produced through AutoDesk Maya and Mudbox.

For the purpose of structuring your website portfolio pages, list the categories of work you will show: The categories will be selections of my written works for each of the series aforementioned, as well as a small gallery of 3D-rendered graphics of creatures and other assets that revolve around the Arterian Redemption series and the Witching Hour.

Reaction / Response

Introduction and Chapter One -- "Don't Make me Think"


As someone who has been raised to be a person of routine and discipline, it is entirely refreshing to read a book that states: "Designing, building, and maintaining a great Web site isn't easy. It's like golf: a handful of ways to get the ball in the hole, a million ways not to."

This is a wonderful analogy for someone like me: a person who loves to design and wants to hear professionals say there are multiple ways to get things right and what one person says works could be different from another. This is fine, so long as they both get a successful outcome. I need to hear this.

I am also a fan of researching for inspiration. I used to believe that checking on other people's work was essentially cheating, but being a designer now for ten years, I am thankfully rid of that mentality.

The approach on simplicity is a useful one. My first website that I designed back in 1999 was awful...of course, most websites, by comparison to today's standards are exactly that, but I wanted to put everything on every page. It was a disaster. So, cutting down the words in half and then taking half of what's left is good advice, as shown on page one of the first chapter. Great rule...most people could learn a lot from that one suggestion.

Keeping things obvious is a great idea as well. If you are selling something, make it easy to find. Clutter will only deter people, which means death for any business.

Making pages self-evident, as discussed in the latter portion of the first chapter makes a lot of sense, as well. I never took the time to think of the many mental steps we take when doing a simple task. As our attention span shortens the more interference we get from the ever-growing presence of ads. This translates to this simple fact: Keep it simple, stupid.

Sketch Book
First Three Pages

Mood Board Two

Mood Board One

Week One Homework
Inspirations

http://www.tolkien.co.uk/index.html

Though this site is non-responsive, it is beautifully developed. The slideshow div is very well put together, nice slide-transition is applied to the images.

There is a good amount of <li> elements in the header, giving the audience plenty to navigate and peruse without having too much to wade through.

There is not too much to scroll through, so the audience does not have to deal with too much information all at once.

The online bookshop is a good touch too. Fans of Tolkien's know exactly where to go and don't have to deal with any 3rd party vender to get his books.

http://www.katemorton.com/

Kate Morton is a historical mystery writer and her webpage shows her style very well. The different divs for this webpage are well placed and have a very nice line with each other for sight.

Her "Journal" is a well set-up blog and holds a good measurement with the other pages, as far as design is concerned.  The book page is nice a clean, not too much clatter. The black and white images go well with the photographs.

I like the header and the design that it takes.

The Events page is probably the only issue I have with the page, as it has events that are over 4 years old still listed. It gives the appearance that this page is not refreshed as much as it should be.

Overall, I really like the page and it's look. Very clean and not too obnoxious with the graphics.

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/

Game of Thrones has taken TV by storm and though Martin's website a few years ago was laughable, it has become quite beautiful.

The Header design is well designed, straight forward, and has a good type choice.

The scrolling slideshow is put together very well.

I like how his blog is called "Not a Blog", and feel that the blog looks great.

This website is a credit to Martin's fans. It shows that he cares a great deal about who is reading his books.

http://www.john-howe.com/blog/

Though this is not the site for an author, John Howe is a magnificent artist and has a website that shows it. His logo design is very well done, as is his header. The small work of art that is on the top-right portion of the Header is an especially nice touch.

The Title Div is a nice touch; keeps the pages put together and gives it a nice, clean design.

The contact page and the footer is nice and legible.

There is easy navigation to all of the pages. The only thing that I don't like, however, is his Portfolio page. He is a great artist, but it is done in lists. It is only when you click on a link that the art is shown, but there should at least be a thumbnail on the link.

January 14
First Day of class