Visitors Update

Since addding a counter/ sitemeter a couple of weeks ago i have noticed a few things on both blogger and flickr. On blogger i have had a total of 37 visitors to by blog with an average of 17 page views that stay for an average of 8:20 minutes. Of those visitors 1/3 have been referred by ba-ma metablog, 1/3 by google searches and a 1/3 by navigation bars on other blogs. I have had interest from countries such as Lativa, Iran, South Africa, Untied States and Austria. My counter currently reads 223 and their is no indication of favourite pages within my blog (i guess visitors would read posts from the main page and not click on the post to open it on a new page).
Within flickr i have been aware the importance content has on influencing views of images. The most popular image being viewed is Cyanide and Happiness with 507 views. This figure is significant because it has only been up for about 2 weeks whereas one of the very first images uploaded on my account, iLunch has had only 3 views. I am one not to be influenced my ratings, but it shows the impact one can have.

Assessment#2 blog post

Flickr

- has uploaded more than the minimum pictures
- I have organised pictures into sets and pools (house warming party, design and monograms)
- uploaded screenshots of examples of good and bad aesthetics in websites
- all pictures have titles and descriptions
- pictures of interest to other students have MPI104-2007 tag
- pictures of no interest to students do not have MPI104-2007 tag
- all pictures have tags other than MPI104-2007 tag
- I have pushed over the minimum pictures to MPI104-2007 group
- I have over 12 contacts, joined over 3 groups and nominated over 6 favourites

I have tried to upload images that are not too personal and relate to art, design and other interesting stuff. I have used Flickr to look for resource design material. I feel it's interestingness comes from it's ability to relate to other students interests.

Del.icio.us

- I have saved over the minimum number of pages of bookmarks
- all bookmarks have descriptions
- all bookmarks have tags
- has bundled all tags (except for: tags)
- all bookmarks of interest to students have MPI104-2007 tag
- bookmarks of no interest to students do not have MPI104-2007 tag
- have several different del.icio.us users on my network
- have saved links for others

Most of my bookmarks are related to design, although their are more personal tags relating to golf and sport. Del.icio.us has been a tool that has been intergrated into my workflow. It has enabled me to save resources used for university, my regular bookmarks and new bookmarks found through my network. Aesthetically speaking del.icio.us is a well structed website, it's interestingness comes from it's content ( in it's ability to bookmark personal interests + other people with the same interests).

Blog

- without knowing the minimum number of post i feel i have posted on a regular bases
- all posts have working links
- have experimented with templates, fonts and colours
- have included a RSS feed of my del.icio.us bookmarks
- have a technorati "fave this blog" button
- have nominated ba-ma metablog as a favourite on technorati
- have a counter
- included a blog post about visitors

I now know the amount of work that goes in to maintaining a blog. The aesthetics process for me as a graphics student is a good way to change an online environment rather than dealing with just print material. I have corrected some spelling mistakes in earlier posts to improve the legibility of my blog. The content on my blog deals with my interests in design, golf and other interesting sites found during this semester. I have tried to create a subdued, minimal blog where no two colours clash and there are only the necessary elements on the page, a process that took a serious length of time.

GRP224 Assess. No.2 Reading Reflection/ Learning Journal

Reading No.7 'Lovemarks'
- what makes some brands inspirational, while others struggle? Lovemarks deliver beyond your expectations of great performance, reach your heart as well as your mind. We get attached to them.
- think they reach your mind first and become a lovemark
- you have to have respect in a lovemark
- three most influencial places to find a lovemark are on screen, online and in store
- on screen, creating that emotional connection
- online, the loyalty to a brand goes beyond reason, consumers have the ability to interact and respond to their product through forums, brand loyalty, membership, etc
- in store, all the senses are motivated, maybe why 80% of decisions are made in store and 50% of brand switches happen in store
- in a technologically motivated world, you would think it is easy to keep loyal customers, to see you as the only solution to their problem
- it’s easy to come up with a well thought out, spaced, creative, visually appealing brand, the hard part is making it attractive to customers

I looked at logos from good logos top 250 logos. It's a website that develops case studies into the design of particular logos. I also took inspiration from 'Business Cards, The Art of Saying Hello'. A book by Micheal Dorrian and Liz Farrelly that displays the business cards of over 250 graphic designers and agencies. Here are also a couple of logo that i used in the initial stages that i used as a starting point for my first designs.


For the 2nd assignment, i have hopefully fixed some simple problems that were clearly evident in the 1st assignment. Thoughout the working process for Rings of Saturn i was constantly telling myself "how what im designing now can transfer into other circumstances". Eg/ how well the logo will work in the business card or letterhead. I think as a consequence to having a coherent design, you can be limited in your creative process and outcome.
In terms of design i tried to not over emphasize the 'sci-fi' aspect of the company as well as keeping in mind the name of the company is Rings of Saturn, so i didn't try and ignore that. For me im pleased with the outcome, all aspects of the identity relate to one another (making an identity). From a consumer's point of view each aspect of the identiy would be seen individually and not all at once, so they would make the connection to the company from seeing similar aspects from, for example, the business card and letterhead. What im trying to say is that i understand why we as designers have to make that connection between different aspects of a corporate identity.

US Open Pairings

The pairings for the U.S. Open are out. Someone seems to have put together some interesting threesomes.

1. Masters replay: Tiger Woods, Chris DiMarco, Luke Donald

2. I'm Not a One-Hit Wonder: Rich Beem, Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel

3. I'm the Best Player over 47: Peter Jacobsen, Jay Haas, Bernhard Langer

4. I'm Not a One-Hit Wonder, either: Bob Tway, Steve Jones, David Duval

5. Major Runner-up is not bad: Thomas Levet, Len Mattiace, Rod Pampling

Check out the US Open pairing here

Keeping on Track of Visitors

I am currently using a free counter provided by easy hit counters. It was a simple decision, as it provided the code necassary for it to be visible on my sidebar. The counter currently reads 105, which was only put up about a days ago.

On my Site Meter Account, remembering it was only activated today, it has a grand total of two visits (both being referrals) with a total of 4 page views, from United States and Australia.

On my del.icio.us account i currently have 16 fans. Other than that i cant tell you much about the amount of people that have accessed my account.

Magazine Cover

A recent Univertity project that required you to produce a 8 page magazine and assoiciated website

Noisebot

A great T-shirt website. If i had more money i would buy them all!!


Check it out