Week 2: Website Under Construction

I now have an actual portfolio website now underway. Click here to go to it.

Maximum Contrast is still my sketch blog.

Week 2: Reworked Manifesto and Personal Inspiration Board

Below is a new and improved design manifesto followed by a larger image board. I realized that there are a few actual designs that should have been on that have inspired me a lot, including my all-time favorite product, the Eames Lounge Chair (I know, it's not a Phaser....).

Week 2: Logo Inspiration

Here is a sampling of the many logos I like. There are logos I have liked a long time here as well as a few I found this last week, but all have common design elements I like. I typically like strong shield, emblem, and bullet type logos. This probably comes from my love for classic cars, "kustoms," and hot rods. I could have easily filled this up with classic sixties car logos. Also, I like logos with one strong and simple illustrative element or minimal type (not necessarily minimalistic, but just a couple of letters or so). A lot of classic rock bands have had great logos, as well. If it's a little over-the-top, I am all for it. Chrome and wings are always in style.

I did not make the image board below. It came from http://mkalty.org/cadillac-logo/ . Cadillac logos have always fascinated me, especially the ones incorporating the chevron (the Ford V8 logos are great, too). They are the epitome of bold emblems and stand for a lot in terms of style, power, and quality (everyone had their dark ages). These logos deserve to stand alone and apart from the image board.

And a few Ford V8s....

Week 1: Personal Website Reference

Below is a page I made of a few favorite websites of mine that have elements I'd like to incorporate in my own website (not my sketchblog). 

On the top is Masters of Chicken Scratch, Dwayne Vance's blog. On the bottom from left to right are Chip Foose's Foose Design website, Mike Hill's Heavy Unit Design blog, and Kekai Kotaki's Kekai Art website.

Below I have listed a few design elements I might like to include in my own website....

• Central logo at the top of the page instead of header with long strand of text
• Sketch feed on the right side of page
• Simple navigation. Example: "Gallery," "About," "Blog" at top of page. Selecting three or four links would keep navigation easy. "About" could be updated with news and resume information, "Gallery" could have multiple galleries such as personal work, school work, etc. My sketchblog could be easily found by having the "Blog" button at the top by the logo with the rest of the navigation buttons. These buttons could even be incorporated in an illustrative manner. It might be a nice stylistic choice to use icons instead of type for navigation, which could also possibly clean up the design and make it more interesting.
• A simple texture could be interesting in the background. My personal work style tends to involve extra textures and is a little more relaxed, so it could be interesting to blend that into a more professional website design.
• Chip Foose's site has a central image with smaller ones below. I like the idea of possibly having whatever the latest and greatest is at the top with images below to direct to the galleries and other pages. Another website I like that has a similar format is Concept Art World. This website shows the newest gallery at the top with other news and galleries shown below in images. It's a nice way of showing the website is always evolving. Although I might not necessarily do this, I think it has some inspirational qualities about it that I'd like to investigate. 

Week 1: Personal Inspiration Board

Week 1: Personal Design Manifesto