I feel like it’s been too long since I’ve written here, but maybe that proves that I am being productive? Either way, I’ve been busy pumping away on a new site that is nearing completion and I’m really excited about. It’s a golf tournament that travels the country and gives proceeds to the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children (pretty awesome). They play on some of the most beautiful courses in the nation and offer a great competition for those up to the challenge.

This was a unique project for me in that the turn around for it was very fast. This meant that I had to go with my instincts on what the client wanted and what the purpose of the site was to be. With a tight timeline and a long list of things to accomplish, I didn’t get the opportunity to second guess or think twice, I had to keep pushing forward to meet my deadline, and rely on what I knew. The deadline and large overlay of goals I needed to achieve actually inspired me to work harder and make continuous progress on the website. It also triggered my problem solving skills, forcing me to come up with ideas quickly and implement them.

The main purpose was to promote the excellence this Tournament conveys, and encourage people to register and compete. The site will also act as a hub where people can go back to check results from past tournaments to see winners and photo galleries outlining the highlights of each tournament.

The Lawyer Charity Challenge was a great challenge for me; it tested my understanding of what the client wanted and going with my gut. There are some things you can quantify and measure, and some things you can’t. Instinct and feeling will always have a slight edge over measurements and equations.

We are still doing minor tweaks on the site, but it’s past the 90th percentile in it’s completion, click the preview below to check it out:

I wanted to upload this as a post, mostly because I don’t have any motion graphics examples on the site currently. It was a project I did while in college at the Art Institutes. It was good fun; hopefully I’ll end up finding some time to finish it up with part 2, I’ve got some wild ideas….

This site has been a work in progress for quite a bit now. With a number of layout changes, color schemes, tweaks and adjustments, it has been a tough but rewarding experience. One of the greatest challenges I found while creating the site is the minimalistic theme and process. It’s not the way I’ve normally create or have designed in the past, yet after looking at many different portfolio sites and examples, the ones I seemed to keep coming back to were simple and elegant, putting an emphasis on the work and content of the site. I quickly became enamored with this idea and wanted to master it. What I’ve learned is with a minimal design, every layout and color choice becomes important, even more so than with a more complex layout. Every item, and color must have a meaning, and an impact. The smallest tweaks and adjustments can change the entire feel of the site, the experience, and it’s likability.

I drew inspiration from two differnt types of designs, those of geometric, shape based designs, and those that werew a bit more graphic, with a painted look, depth of layers, and a organic feel.

The overall feel I wanted to convey was an airy, open, endless design, making you feel comfortable and curious. In the beginning of what I would choose as my final layout, I wanted to find a balance between white, greys, blues, and reds. Nothing patriotic, but more an elegance, with rich reds and subdued blues. Upon  feedback I found that many people found the blue headers “Web and “Graphic” in conflict with the site logo. It was also pointed out that the elegant typface for these headers was too different from the bold slate look in the logo. Back to the drawing board. I first messed around with the idea of red for the headers, I used about 10 different colors but it just seemed like too much red on the page, it took too much attention away from the featured thumbnails. I then began trying different greys, and found one that seemed to fit nicely. Next was fonts for these headers. Originally I had used Fertigo, which I really like. However it didn’t fit the bold, boxish look that was going on. I first opted for a much simpler font, Calluna. I kind of liked it, and didn’t. In the end I felt it didn’t command enough attention, it became lost in the sans serif sea. I then went for Adelle, after considering the slab serif type that was used in the logo. I instantly loved it.

Here’s a picture mid process one day with my cell phone, it’s not the greatest quality but I had to capture the moment.

What can I say, I’m a junkie for motion graphics. I love the opportunity to do post editing work when it comes up, though it’s been few and far between, it’s always rewarding. Here are some cool inspirations I’ve found that I really like.

Stay Inspired.