Saturday, July 16, 2005

Damaged and Dangerous

Work on the new myO backroom continues. Just recently I have completed the main piece of artwork that sits within the new backroom, which was very relieving. If you've seen the little teaser I provided (or if you've seen the full mockup of the front page - and some of you have), you'll know that the new main page contains a piece of artwork that we'll be linking to our new Premium service. The new backroom also contains a similar piece of artwork, though the dimensions are quite different. Just as the main page contains a male character, the backroom contains a female. The idea is to represent anonymous myOtaku users, by using these characters. Sometimes people ask me why these characters often contain no eyes, or why they are positioned slightly higher in the frame (ie: so that only their nose, or everything below their nose is visible). There are actually a couple of specific reasons for that. First of all, I believe that the eyes are often the most expressive part of a human being. In a lot of my work - not all of it, but a lot - I'm using human figures as graphic symbols, largely for their shape. In the case of the new myOtaku, my intention isn't to show specific, identifiable people. Rather, my intention is to keep these people anonymous. By only showing parts of them (sans eyes), I'm able to show that they are people, but I'm able to incorporate them as a graphic element without making them the direct focus. I suppose you could say that it dulls their impact a little. But at the same time, it is a little unsual to crop human figures in such a way, so perhaps they draw more attention than I think. If you look at my wallpapers you'll see a bunch of them that are the same, but with different flavours. These were produced to reflect the art style of the new myOtaku (which we had been calling "myOtaku: Redefined", to coincide with theOtaku.com's current version). To a large extent, the imagery on those wallpapers is redundant now. The large icon/logo and the text portion aren't to be used at all. The female figure, will be incorporated into the new design, but in a slightly different way. Like the male figure I'm using, she will be somewhat anonymous (ie: you won't see her eyes or most of her body). Originally, my intention was to update myOtaku.com to bring it up to "Redefined-spec". That is, I wanted to bring it in-line with theOtaku.com's current version in a visual sense. This did not involve any major structural changes, though it did involve a noteably different design from the current version. Perhaps I will show you that design after we launch the new myOtaku, to give you a frame of reference. You will see that it is vastly different to what we're actually producing and hopefully you'll prefer the "real" version. When it came time to develop this site, it occurred to me that with this new myOtaku, we are challenging ourselves in a whole new way. By including a Premium service that involves the selling of a service, we are taking a large step forward. I therefore felt it was necessary to actually start from scratch, in terms of design. Rather than take theOtaku.com and heavily edit it for a new site, I wanted to begin with a fresh canvas and try something entirely different. The end result will certainly be something that does not resemble the current network in any sense. It will not look at all familiar, except to say that it will bear some of my design trademarks, which you may be familiar with. If you have followed my page here for a while, you will have seen many different layouts and designs and vector drawings. If you think back to those shapes and combinations, you will have an idea about the genesis of the new myOtaku site. Rather than work within existing restrictions, I wanted to create a completely new framework that is really me. In doing so, I am creating something less conservative and more polarizing (at least potentially). However, I have confidence in my own ability, especially based on reactions I've had to my page here over the last year or two. When things are complete I'll probably be in a better position to talk about my experience working on the site. At the moment it's a little difficult; although I am learning more each day and although more things keep being locked down and completed, I would hate to talk about features in any great detail - it's difficult to know what will make the final cut. So right now, all I can do is tell you about design. In that spirit, I thought I'd drop another very small sample: This is just a cropped sample of a piece of the front page (the front page being the area that you visit when you are not a member or not logged in). As you can see, this is basically just an example of the login form. What can't be shown in this static image is the login button animation. Right now that's something I'm trying to perfect (site-wide button animation). If I can't get things looking right there, I will probably just stick with a basic rollover image. Either way, everything will have a more cohesive and "embedded" feel. Something I'm very determined to do is to ensure that everything feels very deliberate. By that I mean, you won't simply see a very comprehensive backroom design, only to have extremely raw-looking comment boxes and such. My intention is to design comment boxes as I would design a site - to give them their own fleshed-out feeling. Hopefully I'll be successful with that. Anyway, on to the comments. Mimmi-chan: Thank you for the compliment. *blush* Momo, eh? Cool, I will take a looksee. Aaryanna: I guess my head is as sensitive as anyone else's, but I really love getting my hair cut. Nothin' like having someone else wash your hair. Mmm, relaxing. ~_^ Alanness: Yeah, it's not something I indulge in...ever. This is my first time. I think it was worthwhile though. Crucifix: Oh yes, you must chat with Annie by mic. She has a very cool giggle. And thanks for the compliment - glad you like the green! Sara: Actually, the same is true for me lately. I've been neglecting the hairdresser for months now, lol. Doc G: Voice chats are a great way of finding out about people. I mean, it makes people seem more "real". JJ: I'm glad you liked my blooping and my magic shoes. ~_^ Annie-kun: I think you mentioned that you got 1984 recently. I'd love to hear your thoughts when you finish it. My sister is reading it at the moment, actually. I hope she enjoys it. Shinmaru: I know what you mean - I hate the sound of my own voice. I remember accidentally hearing my phone message once...ugh. Shock, horror! Chabi: If it wasn't for Iraq, it'd be for something else...like Osama stubbing his toe. Yeah, very disgusting. Demos: Wow, nice to see you 'round here. ~_^ I agree with you about being desensitized, at least to a degree. It's true that these things still do upset me when I first learn about them. I think it would take a lot for me to lose any sensitivity to real-world violence. But having said that, there was definitely an air of inevitability about the whole thing, which is very disappointing in and of itself. When I say "a lot of money", I mean around $100AUD (so about $60-$70USD) or so. I think your description of my voice is reasonably accurate, but it's hard to judge one's own voice, I guess.

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