Well a couple of weeks later and the coding is all finished. As I imagined, nothing really went that smoothly and I encountered a few actionscript problems. I've never been a big fan of action script. I'm more inclined to go with CSS when building a website but i'm glad I gave myself a bit of a challenge this year. I think I counted 23 pages in all of my website. I originally wanted to include image galleries in the site using thumbnails navigating you to the larger image but this was beginning to be really time consuming. I had 8+ galleries and around 50 images in each gallery so I decided to use a simple click through gallery.

I'm at the stage now where I have finished the work in flash, although I have encountered a little problem with one of the extended menus but I will fix that before the site is launched. I have put my flash site into a CSS wrapper with a suitable backround and I think it works quite well.

As for the 3D project, I had opened it up a few times in the last couple of weeks but I think the main work will be done on this once my graded unit is finished.

I have also just purchased a domain name for my website.

Project-retro.com will be here soon!

More graded unit.

This hasn't been updated in a couple of weeks so here is an update.

After laying down around 20 different layout designs, none of them were really working for me. I thought they were looking more like magazines than website layouts. After looking for inspiration from other car manufacturers websites, I came across the Audi website. Completely different to what I was working on before. I decided to give the site a more technical feel rather than a fun, retro, trendy type site. I'm basically using the same layout as the Audi website using the Ford badge as my colour palette. Using the greys, whites and silvers of the chrome from the Ford badge and the blue i've actually put together some layouts i'm happy with.

I contacted Haynes.co.uk to ask if it would be possible for me to use an image from the front of there manual for the Mk2 Escort in my website. As the site will be going online after im finished it I thought I should consider copyright laws. Luckily Haynes got back to me the next day and granted me a 2 year licence to use there image. They also thanked me for considering the copyright laws.

Next it was onto emailing someone who had there car featured in Classic Ford Magazine. The car in question has inspired lots of decisions when it comes to building the actual car. My car will look pretty much exactly the same as this car when it is finished. I asked him if I could use pictures of his car in my website as inspiration on how the car will look when finished.

He got back to me 2 days later saying that it was no problem at all and he is going to send me pictures from the actual Classic Ford photo shoot on a disc. All he wanted in return was for me to put a couple of links in my site for him which is no problem.

The 3D model has been put to the side a little but hopefully everything will be finished in time.

As I have my layouts finished, I need to open up flash and get coding. Im giving myself nearly 2 weeks to do this so hopefully this should be enough time!

Creating the 3D Model

I have started creating a basic model of a Mk2 Escort in 3Ds MAX. This is my progress so far.

The body was created by placing images onto planes in each viewport for the dimensions and to use as templates. Basically I created a box and tweeked the shapes using various different methods.

The body needs a heck of a lot more work and alot more hours spent on it! I need to smooth it slightly and apply materials etc to create the doors and bonnet, boot etc.

It's a work in progress although im quite pleased with how the wheels turned out.

Creating basic visual ideas

Here are 3 site layouts I put together to try and help me decide how my site will look on completion.

I like these designs because they remind me of an old retro tv show and theres also an element of the old Ford Haynes manuals in heres too I think!

Graded Unit2

Brief:

Create a website to demonstrate the stages of restoring a classic car to show winning standard. This site will follow the many stages of two restored vehicles, from where they started to how they are now using Flash galleries.

Tone of Voice:

Friendly, expert and concise. The site should not be too corporate but should also provide a certain amount of professionalism.

Overall Goal:

The website should deliver a friendly atmosphere where it can help to educate car builders in various sections in building a car using reference photos and descriptions. Also a brief description of the tools and materials used will help car builders to decide what tools they will use for their projects.

Target Audience:

Mainly targeted at those who are looking for advice on how to restore a specific classic car. I would put this age range at between 25 and 50 but this can also be targeted to a further and larger audience. The audience wont all necessarily be your typical mechanic or tradesman so design should not be overlooked.

Considered software:

· The use of 3D modelling in the site (AutoDesk 3Ds Max)

· Using Flash to incorporate some interactivity within the site.

· Dreamweaver to tie all of these elements together to make a functioning site.

Deliverables:

Work mounted on a maximum of 4 A2 or A3 boards and digital work.

Digital work will be delivered in Flash and HTML

Deadline:

The development stage to be submitted by the 30^th April.

Planning.....

Brainstorming, Using Mindjet Mind manager I will pick key words from the project and generate mind maps. Also I will create a mock Gantt chart using either Photoshop, Illustrator or Microsoft Excel. A full version will be created at a later date using Microsoft Projects.

To start the research I will look at what is out there that could compare to what I am going to create. I will look at what kind of audience these sites are generally aimed at and see If I might be able to broaden the target audience by incorporating an eye catching design to the site. Look at how these sites are put together and try picturing how I can make my site better.

Start to collect imagery. As the site is all about the restoration of a Ford Escort Mk2, look for images of these cars, look at the colours, the lines and the textures and materials. Any one of these things can come in handy when design ideas for the site are floating about.

Collect a few images connected to the 70s! This is when the car was originally released so it might me good to incorporate a retro feel to the site.

Using the sites I have looked at and the images I have gathered I will draw up some rough sketches of a rough site layout, This can be further produced to a rough Photoshop layout before more final mock up designs are tackled. This can be good to get a feel of how I want my site to look.

Graded Unit

Over the next few months I will be posting the progress of my Graded Unit for HND Visual Communications New Media. We have been given 3 briefs and an option of writing our own brief. I have opted for writing my own brief and I am awaiting confirmation from my tutors as to wether or not I can proceed with this.