Website Research.

The websites I looked at too give me ideas  on how mine should be set or laid out. and what the current styles are in fashion. These websites are also bicycle store websites which i would like to create as well.. they all have similar layouts which show that its what in fashion or what the marketed customers would be used too



http://www.evanscycles.com/
http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/
http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/

Evans cycle page : http://www.evanscycles.com/



I think the website page is a bit to cluttered. , although the images that make it look cluttered are also sales and from a business point of view draw in a customers. increasing the chance of a sale.
How ever I find the writing on the page too small on most parts, like the product list, and the main links.
the logo / company name is shown on the top left of the page, and still does not stand out very much even though its the  where logos are normally located








Cycle store web page : http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/




This is the middle of  both websites having   the standard things like a search bar. logo on the  top left which is the universal place for logos in my opinion . their is a category list on the side and a search bar which seems to be in most the websites i look at . their logo is very nicely placed and is more interesting because it over laps on to another part of the page.
they also advertise their sales in their very top strip having sales written all over it. although not looking as sleek as some other websites it has everything it should and more .
the colour scheme is a bit bland bus still nice .also nothing is too in your face on this website which will not deter customers.













Bonthrone bikes  page : http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/

This web page to me in nice, nothing to in your face force feeding you to buy something which i think that customers would like.
Also it shows products/ deals on the first page which would rise interest. the layout is fairly simple to get around and the logo is located in the usual area .
having the feature of a search bar seems fairly standard for these websites and is useful if you know what you  are looking for. it also has a small strip for adverts at the side which would be useful for bringing in a little more money or even showing off deals.
over all I like this lay out more then the rest simple but very effective i'm my opinion . also the colour scheme is attractive and visual satisfying.





These have given me things to take into consideration and  what is standard in a website. i will be referring to these websites when creating to my own . these are successful business's so their websites are well made for their customers need which is something I must take into consideration .

Scanning textures and Rubbing's of textures

Today we went of in groups to take rubbing's of surfaces for interesting textures and also scanned some weird and unusual things like lemons ,leafs and cabbages.

For the rubbing's I had a plastic cup, some different wall surfaces, number pads of the vending machine and photo copier and some signs. when we got back we scanned in the  graphite rubbbing's and uploaded them onto photo shop.

i found out that , finding materials to can is faster then recreating the look on photo shop. It was easy to add the effect to the words or anything.

These are the scans .

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This will be useful to create a unique logo, using the textures in the background after playing around with the properties and playing with saturation. also it could be possible to use it as a textured letter fill. giving it a unique fill.
This also gave me the idea for. if i wanted a background if i had a nature shop i could just scan in leaves and make that the background of the logo or banner, not only just taking textures from scanning but also images.

For the instance like this. This was made with a cabbage leaf and changing the properties hue saturation , and a few other things and then putting text on top creating an example of what it could be like

Dslr photography introduction

Today we all had an introduction to Dslr's

DSLR - Digital Single Lens Reflex

We learnt the proper way of holding that camera

How aperture effects the depth of field , which will blur the back ground and focus on something near or focus on everything in front  capturing the mountains and hills ect.

• Portrait images should be taken in a low aperture focus, while a scenery image should be taken with a high  one.

We also learned about shutter speed which allowed you to capture moving images or motion.

• Slower shutter speeds allowed you to capture fast moving  images creating a blur  as it moves.
• A faster shutter speed would be used to get the a fast moving image like a water drop.

 This will come in useful seeing as this is my chosen capture method the ability to be able to use a Dslr will let me take good quality pictures and capture it in the ways i wish to, if its movement static or anything else.
also i will see if i can combine this with panoramic and see if i can take a 360 degree image of a bike.

360 degree panoramic.

Taking out a tri pod , and set it up out side we took 12 pictures moving the camera . of builds and surrounds around the college.

We also took images of a room going horizontal.

These are the images that where stitched together using the arcsoft panorama maker software which was easy to use, opening the pictures you want clicking next in the bottom right  or choosing how you want the image in the bottom left

This is the end image  when all, of it was put together 

I think this could be useful for  maybe an in-store shot of stokes giving it a unique view, but it might be possible to make a 360 degree  in view image of something  showing all the sides of a bike although im not sure this has given me the idea to do this.

Panoramic images.

http://mmmmcapture.blogspot.com/2010/11/1.html 

Made from these images. 

This is what the results where when the images where put together. 

Photo merge images

these photo's where used with photo merge  in photo  which would create a pan look . 

Please Click these links to see what the final image's shall look like.

Snooker Ball

This was my attempt at  creating the snooker ball which we where shown .






This is my attempt  at making it.
Firstly I made a gradient in the back ground
Then I made a new layer and used the brush tool to create a circle of colour , changing the size of the brush depending on how big I wanted it to be.
After positioning the circle where I wanted it, I selected the blending options and  made and inner and outer glow of white.
I went over the highlighting and darkened the areas with the burn and Dodge , which made it look like the light is hitting an area or casting a shadow.
i went back to the gradient area and made a shadow under the ball.
A new later was made  and a smaller white circle was made with the brush , i used text and added a 7 and added a burn effect to the side of it.

Proposal

The web site I would like to create will be based on an existing cycling shop local to me called the Bike Celler. The website I wish to create will hopefully improve customer service and relations, increase sales and later possibly lead to the company expanding or increase types of stock. The ability to work from a website will also be possible in the future, if wanted.

The ability to service more people at a time could be a great benefit the company could build more trust and answer to the problems easily and always have a record, if there is an email account set up for this, this will encourage people to shop more with you as if there are any problems they can sort them out sooner and with less hassle.

The photography elements of this shall be images of the product giving the customer visuals of what they could possibly purchase which will improve the chances of buying, also 3d images will be placed which will hopefully reinforce the sale, so if  they come into the store they can know what they want.

Typography wise I will make the text easy to read. The Logo will be placed on the website so people will begin to recognise it. Also there shall be another font type and colour for deals or offers which will help it to stand out and grab attention. The logo will also be on display

Also include on this website I will have the specs on display under the bikes image to show what it will come with.

Categories will be assigned to things separating bike types, gear (clothing), accessories, parts, sales ect this will make it easier to navigate the website, making it easier for a customer.

I believe these things will create a website that will benefit them and improve their business and open new doors for the future to expand and enter new markets.

Logo's

A good logo represents the company and will explain something about it it can mean just as much and the company name and will symbolise the brand.

• A logo should be simple easy to recognise but still stand out.
• It should symbolise a company showing what it is that they do or offer.
• They should include a readable type face.
• and the image should be easy to see weather even if its black and white.

After been shown examples of logo's.

They can come from Simple things just like the orange logo,  it stand out form other phone company's by making its logo different and unique and its own. 

The orange logo is simple but distinct . all of it still relating to them.

Also some logo's came from other things which are much older, old Celtic drawings or symbols. just edited into shapes or taking a section out of on. 

Also some keep to their original design and work on it to define it more helping their identity. coca cola.

For instance these cans still have the same text style                         These are examples of how the                
but the wording is altered for the country                                         coca cola logo as changed and improved                                



other s edit their logo dramatically to produce a new one which has more important this can even involve scraping the old one completely . e.g apples. also they add simple variations like colour changes to their new logo.

Apples original logo                                                                                           Apples current logo.
Complex with alot of things going on.                                                         this logo is simple, so easy to alter

 The logo for skype to me looks nice, attractive, intersting. and apealling. and the colours help it standout.

The bubbles around the text slightly looks like  cloud  which is relative to the name .

i think this logo is memorable and sutible for its use, also its type face is used in all the

Posters

These are posters made to advertise the aliens films  in the cinemas. they use photography , drawing and digital skills to make them . 

Refine edge.

1. using the quick selected tool selected the image I wanted dont worry aobut not seelecting ever bit of teh image you want , e.g. fine hairs or thin or small bits of detail that the quick slect tool will not pick up., pressing alt and clicking on points I wanted to un select 
2. Right click inside of the selection lines and click refine edges.
3. Tick smart radius. Draw a thin line around the hair this leaves a white like until you let go of left click where it will show the fine bits of detail that will be revealed. 
4. in the output too button  select the add mask and layer in the drop down box. press OK when you have finished refining edges and the the output set. this will make a new layer with only the image you want. 
5. If you wish to remove the original image to put in the image you have taken in a different place . 
6. draw a circle around the image with the lasso tool  and

Pen tool

we practice using the pen tool to out line some diamonds a heart and a car.

• Dragging  instead of clicking allows you to put a bend into the like making it arc. 
• Some times  the the line continues from the previous point and will become awkward to arc or bend into the place you want pressing alt while clicking the centre of your last point will stop this and let the line to in any direction
• single clicking point to point creates a straight line just like the  polygonal lasso tool
• you can add  and remove points with  the remove or add point tool which comes out of the pen tool 
•  it will be saved as a Path so you can come back to it any time and edit it.
• 
  

Today we experimenting with text again. we used the fill tool to create a black back ground and put a text layer on top . writing what ever we wanted into it. 

right clicking the text layer we got blending options which allowed us to create an effect on it in this case i used the contour satin tick box's and added a depth , which gave it the metallic effect .

after getting the look i was happy with i merge this later with a new layer which had nothing on it . so it would remove all the effects. 

after this  i selected the lasso polygon tool and started to draw triangles around the word which went into the centre and then used the click tool and distort the word by dragging the the triangle away then deselected so I could repeat.. I repeated this  a bunch of times  till I was satisfied. 

I used the lasso tool and drew a circle around the middle of the word adding a 50 feather effect.  going into filters and adding a cloud effect. 

After adding another layer and filling it with 50% grey, then adding a radial effect which gave it an extending look in the colour .

 then adding a drop shadow through the blending options and also out lined the words through it. 

a hue and saturation layer was added to the  background which ment we could change the colour.