writing challenge

I don't know exactly how, but this is going to work. I am going to write a formal piece of writing everyday, regardless of the length, on a topic that will range from business to science as long as they are remotely pertinent to my professional life. The relationship can be tight or attenuated depending on the ways in which I came across/studied those topics.

Let's plan on next 100 days. 100 days, 100 topics, better Jae. Go.

mine

what the hell. now that web design is over, I am just going to use this already set-up site to just update stuff.

Church today. 11 AM service:

It was exactly what I needed. Sense of purpose for my life. The scripture reading was from Job. Perhaps one of my favorite gospel (it is a gospel...right) in the entire bible.

I prayed that I could love greater than I can think. I also prayed for the capacity to believe, to have faith beyond my earthly desires and the full potential of my physical strength. Now that is something worth aspiring for. Going to lunch with mum now, but I shall update more.

hiddencityphila.org

I wanted to go out with a bang (ha....ha) so I searched for some of the most meaningful, interesting companies/groups that maintained a website (as opposed to just a coolest website). And this was my best find. Discover the city that you have never known.

navigation. At first there is only one major group of "navigation" that will take you to different places on the site. That is the main navigation shown above. Upon rollover, the look of the links change (blue, and then the cute little arrow to the left of the link) and secondary navigation links are shown whenever appropriate. Once these links are clicked on, the look of the link changes in a sense that the roll over state becomes permanent (that is until you click different links :P); this lets you know where you are in the site (of course the content is very predictable from the main links...so if you should also be able to tell where you are from deducing...). The hierarchy of the navigation system is denoted by the slight font size difference and the dotted line that connects the secondary navigation BELOW the main navigation. All the secondary navigation links are available no matter where you are as long as you hover over the main link they are attached to, and the main navigation remains stationary throughout the entire site. You can go back to the "homepage" which is the map page by either clicking on map or the hidden city logo.

architecture. The site appears to be relatively deep (more than 20), and I don't think the site is actually lacking pages or is in need of more pages. The architecture is flat in a sense that every page of the website is accessible from the homepage (main and then secondary nav).

content/typography. Throughout the site, there is an appropriate usage of font size, color, bolding variation to indicate the hierarchy. Because of the nature of the content varying so much from page to page, however, this variation is not applied consistently. I do not have the problem with this inconsistency, though. They make intuitive sense. Alignment, bolding, font sizes, colors were used to make the hierarchy. And the labels are crystal clear. Very predictable.

structure/grid. The grid remains consistent throughout the site (even in calendar, which is actually very impressive). The top navigation stays, and below that the body area changes. The consistency makes for easiness understanding the site, and gathering information really fast. Although my eyes often do get drawn to the hiddencity logo in the peripherals, the body area does a good job of being a focal point of the site.

imagery/symbols. A lot of imagery/symbols of "treking" is used on the site. From the footprints to dotted lines. Photos are stunning (very professional) for each sites, imagery, photos are very appropriate, and I personally don't think there needs to be any more. No symbols that need thoughtful understanding is present.

color palette. Blue, gray, and white. Clean. Treking doesn't have to be dirty, and they made a smart choice to make a cleaner site since the concept of a month long festival is not something easy to understand. The color is strategically used (and the shades of course) to seperate the content hierarchy as well as to provide the visual anchors throughout the site (it doesn't look like it's floating, lopsided, etc.).

site focus. The point of the site is to introduce this new program/festival to the surfers and engage them in finding the hidden city of Philadelphia via participating in the festival, playing the innovative game, and visually enticing them to the secrets to be reveiled about Philly. The site doesn't have search function, but I don't think it is necessary. The most interesting feature on the site for me was the home page where they had google map with places to visit as well as how to get to certain places using the google map directions (this feature is useful when you go to calendar-->click on a site). There is nothing particularly confusing about the site, especially if you read the "about" which is below the map (didn't know at first this part existed becasue the map takes the entirety of my screen). I would move up the about (maybe make a separate page for it) and also have "sites/artists" link in the main navigation so that people can see ALL the sites/artists participating in the festival in a single list. Overall though, a wonderfully innovative site about an innovative project that will certainly be delightful.

chloebyob.com

I've noticed that my website reviews are becoming more "local" as the days go by. Oh well, what can I say, I actually end up spending more times on these random local/small websites since I've been trying to go do more off-line things lately. :D I visited Chloe's website to check out the restaurant before my friend and I went to have a delicious dinner. I really think restaurants should take the website seriously--it really makes or breaks it for quite some people. I went to Chloe DESPITE the website only because my friend insisted that it's one of HIS fav. restaurant. The appetizer was to die for. Lamb? My friend loved it but I didn't think it was worth 24 dollars.

navigation. There is one navigation (so there is only one navigation grouping), and it makes sense. It's the bare basics about the restaurant, and in a sense that they don't clutter up the website with useless information that no one cares about (really no one really cares about how historic their building is...unless they do), I enjoy the simplicity of it. Although there is a rollover state, the look of the links do not change nor is there headline in the body area that tells you where you are. But given that there are only four choices, it will be actually difficult to get lost in the website. Furthermore, the navigation remains stationary (only the body changes), and you can always go back home by clicking on "home."

architecture. Even without the sitemap (but then again, why would you have a sitemap for such a simple site), I can easily tell that the website is not very deep. No more navigation appears as you go deeper into the site, and it goes with the simplicity of the site (in that sense, it is at least consistent).

content/typography. Although they can get away with it because of the simplicity of the site, there is virtually no clear hierarchy in the site. There is usage of different font styles, presumably, different sizes, and some are italicized while some are not, but none of these really relate to each other in a real hierarchical way. I would improve it by having a clear hierarchy through successive intensity of the color usage or the font size change (as opposed to using different font styles...there is not enough text in the website to justify this much variety in font styles, really). As there is no headlines, the prominence or subordination of one information over another is virtually absent from the site, but as mentioned above, the labels of the navigation is plenty clear.

grid/structure. As mentioned above, the grid of the site stays very consistent (basically the right side of the page is the only one that changes), and the website contains within its own scrolling bar to scroll through the text so that the navigation to the left is EXACTLY where it is at all times. I guess this makes for a very easy to navigate website (not that it would have been that much harder if they just had the browser scroll to scroll through their text parts). On any single page, the one item that gets the most attention is the chloe logo on the right hand corner.

iconography/imagery. Other than ONE picture per each page, ther eis the infamous chloe logo, and no other iconography/imagery. It does leave me wanting a little more, but I don't want the site to get overcomplicated for no reason either.

color palette. Red, whitish color (off-white of some kind), that earth color surrounding the logo, and black for the text. They were chosen for no apparent reason. I visited the restaurant, and these are not particularly the color that the restaurant was especially decorated with (these are actually pretty common palettes for an indoor decor).

site focus. The point of the site is to introduce the restaurant and impart the surfers with a basic business information. It does not let you search for soemthing, and the only thing I find useful about the site is the hours of the restaurant (they do keep pretty bizarre hours for a business opertion), but that is also not to say I leave the site totally perplexed and uninterested. It does the job, and I am glad that the resturant managed to put online a website--so many other great ones do not.

brewhaha.com

So related to the coffee shop I discovered below, I thought I would post a site for my favorite coffee shop in Philadelphia. They do have the hands down best espresso and espresso-related drinks even though they could have done a better job with the up-keep.

navigation. Yep, there is only one navigation. It's not even as sophisticated as Cafe Fanny (although fanny was by no means sophisticated compared to some of the other websites), and they have far more actual stores (and presumably more sales/revenue) than Cafe Fanny. It's funny how that works. Anyway, although I hate how clumped they look, the grouping, since there is only one of it, makes sense. It's everything they think you want to know about the coffee shop. Since there is only one, also, there is no hierarchy per se unless we go as far as to say that the order of the items presented indicate some kind of hierarchy. The main navigation is stationary, and appears in every page. Although there is a rollover state (the color of the links gets brighter), there is no after-click state. Because the website has only like 10 pages, it's easy to tell where you are in the site. Once you click on the main link, that is where you are, and there is a headline in the body text that tells you so. You can always go back home by clicking their logo.

architecture. As mentioned previously, the site only contains 10 or so pages; it is not deep. But since you can access every page of the website from home, the website is flat. I think the simplicity of its structure is a good thing for this specific coffee shop because more clutter doesn't seem to be necessary. I would actually make it even flatter and shallower (no pun intended...?).

content/typography. The headline for the page (which tells you where you are, conveniently enough), is in the same stayle (muted color) as the navigational links at the top. Below that, there are, for some pages, usage of headline2, and paragrpahs (css style). There is a weight difference (the top navigation is in all caps...that's super emphasis right there). The labels, although there are many, are pretty clear about the information they will share with you.

grid/structure. Grid is verrrry css/html, and it is, although blocky, consistent across the board. Only body area changes. The consistency makes for the predictable, stress-free surfing. The focal point is the body text not because there is anything particularly visually interesting about the body paragraphs, but becasue the website is information-driven (you are there to get information about the cafe...aren't you?), the fact that the body paragraph presents that is enough of an incentive to pay attention. But yes, there is an undeniable absence of cool graphic elements.

iconography/imagery. They have this drab sephia tone photos and graphic element below it on every page on the right hand corner. I am not amused. They should have more interesting pictures, probably with less sephia (I see enough brown on the website), and get rid of the graphic thing. There is no symbol/iconography used throughout the site, but I don't think the site particuarly needs any.

color palette. Brown, light brown, lighter brown, yellowish brown. BROWN. jesus, I know they are trying to say "coffee" but it really makes the entire site 1. amateure, 2. DRAB. Brown, in its myriad shades, are used to for different text elements (headline 1, 2 paragarphas, navigational links), and they are clearly, and consistently applied to give a cohesive sense of hierarchy. But really, I am not amused.

site focus. The objective of the site is to provide some information about the cool coffee shop they are. Cool the site is not. Not only that, the site feels nothing like the actual store which has high white ceilings, well designed menu boards, and awesome coffee and food. The site does not let you search for something, nor is there anything exciting about the site other than the address and the phone number of the philadealphia locatoin (NO HOURS! UGH.) Since they are not even selling anything, they really failed at making me want to go their coffee shop if it wasn't for the fact that 1. philadelphia somehow notoriously lacks coffee shops worth going to do some decent work 2. their coffee IS actually fantastic. There is nothing confusing about the site; if anything, it is too boring to be confusing.

cafefanny.com

Not to free associate--well, who am I kidding: I am free associating. So after the bear naked, I googled other cool granola sites to see if anything interesting came up. Not only was this site one of the few that came out toward the top, it also had this weird name that rhymes (does it?) Anyway before I start, I wanted to point out MY FAVORITE part about this site. It's most an introduction website for a cafe that actually has a shop in Berkeley, CA. Not only do coffee shops usually not have a cute little website for themselves, but it's often impossibly hard to find their HOURS (which is possibly the most important piece of information other than how delicious their coffee is). They have it NICE and CLEAR on the homepage.
Nice.

navigation. There is only one navigation on the home page (and throughout) and that is the main navigation. Once you click on the link, it changes (the font color changes to orange from beige and the box also comes (secondary navigation) attached to the link. The link also has the box surround it.
The hierachy comes through mostly because of the simplicity. The top navigation, which stays constant in all of their pages, is clearly the most important navigation (well the logo is the bigger, but it IS the logo). The secondary navigation (the links of the secondary navigation changes to match the orange of the top navigation when clicked on) whose color matches the clicked on link) is of a smaller size font, but the small caps make for a nice transition from all small case used for the top navigation. The transition is thoughtful without being slick and I think it comes their cafe vibe pretty well (although of course, I have never been there). And because of the simplicity of the website, the place within the site is pretty clear to tell. You can also go back to the home page any time you want by clicking on "home."

architecture. It doesn't appear to have a deep structure. There are total of about 20 pages, and they are not acessible at first (you do have to clikc on each main navigation link to access that secondary navigation for that category), so in a sense, they are also not flat (structurally).

content/typography. Other than the ones I talked about already, the site keeps a pretty simple css style, where they utilize headlines (bold, bigger font), paragraphs (same color as the headline), links (a little darker yellow than the paragraph/headline). So in a sense, color, font weight, font size were all used to organize the page. And the links are very straightforward; when I clikc on menu, I know I am getting the full menu avaiable at the cafe and that is precisely what I get.

grid/structure. Grid, as mentioned before is pretty consistent where the top navigation has a little secondary navigation box attached to the bottom of it, and the focus is given ot the pictures dedicated for each page and the body text (there is nothing special about the tests but because you clicking to get the information, your eye does seek out the information in the text).

iconography/imagery. Although there is no icon/symbols used anywhere on the site, I do like the cleanliness that comes from the lack of those, and I probably wouln't change it. The photos that changes for every page is nice. I don't think more pictures will be necessary.

color palette. Purple, maroon, red, yellow/beige are basically all the colors. Although I don't know why these are chosen (could be their decor color), these colors speak to each other and work well together. As mentioned before, orange-beige helps with segregating texts, and so do weights/font size.

site focus. As mentioned before the point of the site is introduced the cafe. They do sell some stuff on the side, but they do not appear to be the main point (they do too little marketing to sell the items for someone who has never had their products previously). There's no search button (seems it would be excessive), and there is nothing really confusing about the site. I really wish I was in Berkeley to go to this cafe.

bear naked

It was sitting on my desk, you know a bag of bear naked, and I thought: "why not? i like bears."

Navigation. Possibly as simple as the dog-walking site below, it's simple. There is basically two navigation system on the home page, one is which is primary and the other is secondary (this secondary one, however, disappears if you leave the homepage...forever!)

Considering there is not-always-functioning-well drop down menu (the flash gallery in the front sometimes goes over this), the hierarchy per se, is indicated by first what is ALWAYS present (and those three buttons--get, live, meet--are). The hierarchy is further denoted by the descending font-size. However, confusingly enough there is also a navigation group toward the bottom of the homepage.
These navigation disappears once you get away from the page, but they ARE somewhere in the midst of the main navigation (for instance, theDEN is accessible through live bear naked>join the den) . They sort of act like "news" items on other pages, except they appear (visually) to be far more important to the site than just "news" because other parts of the page is so bare. I don't think it was intentional. The links do not change looks during rollover or after it's clicked on. But with inconsistent headlines, it's also not that easy to tell where you are in the site. Thankfully, though, you can always get back to the site by click on "bear naked," their logo.

Architecture. The site seems to be pretty deep (there's no site map), but more than that, it just looks unorganized (aesthetically they look as if they would be extra organized). It looks flat because with drop-down, fly-out menus, you can presumably get to every page from the homepage...but then again, I started to lose trust in the web-designer.

Content/Typography. As mentioned above, mostly font size is used to indicate levels. They are one of the sites that actually seem to use html css, and they also use headlines and paragraph styles in their body to produce headache-free content. These headlines are highlighted by their color, font size, weight, and capitalization. Not sure if they are particularly bolded...Although I am not sure if it's well organized over all, it is not difficult to guess what is behind each links.

Grid/Structure. Since all the grid you need from homepage is the top navigation, the most important part of the homepage's grid stays. All other pages are laid-out in easy html style, with a focus on the body text (a banner above that is visually most "stricking" though). I think it was easy to build it this way, and of course, it's clean, which is more than what some other sites can say.

Iconography/Imagery. Images of outdoors and bear claws are, for all the downfalls of the site, is the saving grace that makes me want to look through. Really I FEEL HEALTHIER as I browse through. I want to see more and better integrated outdoor pictures, but I wouldn't add any more symbols. I like the simplicity of the claws and I think having more of those cutsie things would actually take away from the site.

Color Palette. Aside from the pictures, orange, black, gray, white, and green are used. Very nature friendly (going with their nature-focused theme and all). In a sense of giving emphasis, orange is used to sort of highlight throughout the site.

Site Focus. The point of the site is to introduce the surfers to the brand and connect them together in a healthier "community," which bear naked is all about. It's one of the few sites WITHOUT the search function, but I don't see myself using it necessarily. They have like 5 products to sell...Also because the website isn't really feature driven, I don't know what could be my favorite. I do like the idea of creating a community for people who enjoy bear naked prodcuts (The Den). The confusingness of the site is the general layout and how the information is organized. Trimming down the pages and making the organization as intuitive as the three navigational links on the top will be the way to go.