Welcome!

Welcome to PicklesofWar.com - Luke Weatherlow's Portfolio website. Please feel free to check out my Portfolio, Demo Reel, Resume and the rest of my website. You can also contact me anytime at: Luke@picklesofwar.com

Why Design Crosses Markets/Fields

Everything around has design involved in it, whether it is our overly priced Starbucks coffees or our jeans, t-shirts and shoes. Brand is truly everywhere! And design can be seen in everything. I talked before about why the web is important and how it affects our ability to communicate more effectively with our customers about our products/services. While the Web allows us another spoon en-which to feed, it is not the only spoon (bad metaphor I know). Print, Web, and TV are the staples of advertising campaigns and I do not think any of them should be left out. Each type of media has its own industry and social aspect but without all three an ad campaign can be lost to a target audience or key demographic. Plus since we are hit with thousands of brands/ads everyday it can become hard to make our message stick. That is why using multiple mediums helps consumers remember because they can hear it, see it and maybe even taste or touch it.
So that's enough of a back log of generic thoughts on the issue of ad campaigns, now into the juicy stuff.

While in college I always heard fellow students say "I don't need to learn how to design for print/web, I only want to do 3d animation" or vice versa. This is a huge mistake and wrongly so. Design is design, it does not matter what the medium or tools at hand. A great designer takes creative risks and steps outside their comfort zones. They experience the world and interact with other fields to get a better feel for what they are designing for, this is called design diversity. Don't get me wrong the final product and budgetary constraints may change depending on the media type as well as the willingness to do multiple mediums at once. Resources and time are always key factors when we think about the projects scope, but when designing its good to always go big and then scale back. With the whole "design is design" approach we will take a step back and look at the generic overview processes for each field.

TV:
Preproduction ->Production -> Post Production ->Evaluation
Web:
Preproduction ->Production -> Post Production ->Evaluation -> Maintenance
Print:
Preproduction ->Production -> Post Production ->Evaluation

While the generic processes are the same I am in no way comparing the production cycles to one another, just comparing the Preproduction aspect.

So we get the job from the client and or the project is handed to us by our superiors. We figure out the projects goals/objectives, do our research and dive headfirst into our ideas. Right? Depends on the type of project and how big it is. Some projects require more evaluation and communication between clients and the studio/designer. Preproduction is similar between mediums because we are given a product/service and we have to find a way to sell it in a unique way that will get our target audiences attention all while keeping its brand. Many say preproduction is the most important step in the project lifecycle because it is where the foundation or ground work is laid out for the rest of the project. I would have to agree that it is the most important but followed closely by production because things always go wrong or differently than anticipated. It is the designer's job to try to accommodate for these things if necessary.

Design is oriented around culture and the world around us. We constantly see things around us that inspire and move us. Our world can make us laugh, cry, feel motivated etc... As designers it is our job to emulate this within our projects and create truly amazing work that makes people have emotions. After all attractive products increase sales and even better if we add emotion on top of that we have something to help them remember our product/service.

Posted By: Luke Weatherlow Posted On: 02/08/2009 Tags: No Tags

The Web - Part 1

In the last couple years there has been a huge push towards website development and web applications, but why? Is it because of the increasing potential of the web due to faster connections speeds? Is it because developers are getting more creative in how they view the web? The simple answer is yes.

Why is the Web Important?
The internet is all about the transfer of information about products or services to potential buyers/viewers. This never ending saga to gain viewer attention and provide them with new information keeps viewers online. The Web is a growing hybrid of graphics, text, and video that can now be streamed almost instantly from our computers, phones and even TVs. This provides enormous potential for any company looking to advertise to create their own web presence or "brand" and suck viewers into information about whatever they want them to buy/do. Look at sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Youtube; they offer viewers a place to post the latest news about themselves or make online profiles for their friends to look at, youtube also allows viewers to post their own videos and create a viewer to viewer experience; and since viewers are always adding new videos, the experience is always changing. This creates unparalleled user activity as well as a service that keeps them coming back again and again. With the Web becoming so popular, we now have consumers who are surfing the web for products/services that fit their needs and budgets. This adds even more economic strategies that MUST be utilized by today's culture/users.
For example, how many times have you gone to your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo etc.) just to look up the local pizza shops number?

Web Development Now
Web development has changed from simple tables and blocky graphics to amazing user interfaces with flash and graphics intertwined seamlessly into some of the most creative layouts imaginable. But it's not all about having fancy graphics or user interfaces. It's all about the content of your WebPages and if the information is not structured in an easy to read way with the information viewers are looking for they will easily get frustrated and look somewhere else. Nowadays websites present a company to target audiences and provide additional information through branding, content, and online services such as online bill payment. With these new functions that need to be incorporated into our websites/business model it is important to build for these functions and not around them. Many sites add login links in random places that are not easily structured but thrown in somewhere where it will fit.

So in the end a website needs a reason to be there, a target audience, product or services and something to attract viewers to your pages. I will get more into this at a later date.

Posted By: Luke Weatherlow Posted On: 01/01/2009 Tags: No Tags

Welcome to my Redesigned Website

Hello Everyone and welcome to my completly revamped website!
This blog will not be so much about my personal life, but more about my life as a developer. I will be adding articles, tutorials, and other goodies every once and awhile. Stop by anytime or contact me at:
Luke@picklesofwar.com

Posted By: Luke Weatherlow Posted On: 12/06/2008 Tags: No Tags

Second Blog Post

Now that everything works and I have tweaked with some of the code. I would like to introduce myself.
My name is Luke Weatherlow and I am a Web Developer and an aspiring Game Developer. I am currently enrolled at the Pittsburgh Art Institute online for Game Art and Development, and take my passion for games very seriously. I cannot wait to break into the industry and gain more experience about Game Art and Development work-flows through hands on work.
I will try to post every couple of days :)

Posted By: Luke Weatherlow Posted On: 10/26/2008 Tags: No Tags

First Blog Entry

Welcome
Hello Everyone and welcome to my new blog! I made this mostly to test out my php knowledge and to also learn about PHP OOP uses. I made this whole website in an afternoon and cannot wait to start posting stories and more about ME!
Luke Weatherlow