What I Hear

Location: Lincoln Center Area, Upper West Side

Keynotes

• The chirping and chittering of birds. One sounded like it had throat cancer.
• People complaining on cell phones.
• The omnipresent squeaking of breaks.
• The nails of dogs scratching the pavement.
• The heels of shoes scratching the pavement.
• The building growl of accelerating cars.
• The whirring of bicycle, stroller, and suitcase wheels.
• The distant wailing of police sirens.
• The grumble of cars waiting for the light to change.
• The shh shh of jacket fabric rubbing against jacket fabric as people walk by.
• The nonsense language of babies.
• Buses beeping and letting out air like deflating balloons as lower to the ground to let the elderly out to the sidewalk.
• The sound of an ocean wave as a car passes.
• Tires clunking over metal plates.
• Buses letting out small farts of air as they drive past.
• The roar of the subway underneath.

Signals

• The deep rumble of buses in wait.
• The cry of a police car horn.
• The beeping of taxis.

Soundmarks

• Pretentious laughter.
• The clicking of fancy shoes.
• The complaining of old people.
  

Location: Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Upper West Side

Keynotes

• The pinging of glasses.
• Silverware jingling against silverware.
• The grinding of chairs on the marble floor.
• Plates clanging onto tables.
• The clink of silverware being picked up off tables.
• The crinkle of opening a ticket envelope.
• The dull murmur of a room of people.
• The echoing of voices.
  

Design I Like

For this assignment, I'm going to talk about and dissect a portfolio site that I've been admiring for a while now. I speak here of the portfolio site for a young Swiss designer named Loic Dupasquier. (Pictured below.)


I suppose that I'll first talk about the design of the site as a whole. One of the things that immediately struck me was the site's great use of color. We see a consistent use of shades of purple to focus our attention on specific areas of the site. I like the fact that the designer kept the site monochrome and used color only where necessary. In fact, the site feels very clean and clutter free, while still having a sense of energy due to economic uses of effects like gradients, rounded corners, drop shadows, and a somewhat grungy background texture. I also noticed that the site has a wonderfully uniform grid, adding to the sense of subtle elegance. You'll notice that the information on the top aligns with the images on the bottom in a four-column grid. Another nice aspect of the site is that all the information is on a single page, relieving browsing headaches. Finally, the maximum width of the main content is only about 675 pixels, so that users with smaller screens can view the content without having to scroll from side to side - a usability nightmare.

Onto specifics. The first part of the page that will likely draw the user's attention is the header:


The header here provides a logo that strikes a great balance between the typographic and the purely graphic. The memorable logo immediately brands the page as fun and creative with its playful lettering, reminiscent of jello perhaps. To the right, the user receives an immediate description of the page, so they know what to expect in the following content.

Next the user is presented with biographic information, along with contact information and a creatively presented image of the artist.

To the left, we see the biographic info presented with large, colored headings that clearly designate hierarchy. Underneath, the text has an aesthetically pleasing line height and a consistent baseline. The sans-serif font works well stylistically and is very readable. Further right, we're given links to further information about the designer: his contact information, his resume, and his Facebook profile. To show that these links are clickable, we're given a feedback effect upon mouse-over - the text of the links turns purple. Furthermore, the artist's self-portrait to the far right sends a clear message that we're looking at the page of a creative person. The imaginative energy, it seems, is literally escaping from his head, as signified by the purple blobs flowing out from underneath the artist's hat. As a nice twist, and further symbolism of creativity, this picture breaks out of the grid structure.

Last but not least, we have the actual porfolio section of the website:


The designer makes this area extremely usable by providing clear categories to the left, previews of the portfolio images, and descriptions of these images as clickability feedback upon the user's mouseover on any of the thumbnails. Rather than directing the user to a difference page for each image, the designer has a javascript lightbox pop up to show each work in its full glory. As a fantastic touch, the information up top stays constant as the user surfs through the portfolio below.

To sum up, why is Kiluka.ch a design I like? Because this online porfolio has the perfect balance of style, substance, and usability.