Some sketches and ideas

Here are some of my early sketches of the interface. However, I forgot to include a space for the countdown so it will have to be amended anyway.

Plus ideas for logo. The logo will consist of a simple shaped arrow with a bold rim and a name Vanitas written inside. It will be black and white, open for the audience to add colours in the interactive "game".

On Tuesday we agreed on the name VANITAS for our brand. The name was found by accident whilst browsing the website of Rijks Museum.

LOGO research notes
"by not being able to pin down the meaning of logo we start experiencing it holistically(...) in the way we would experience a mythic story. " (Danesi, 2006). For example Apple- logo is playing with the associations of eden, Genesis and sin...


As Danesi wrote, the best logos consist of simple forms or basic geometrical shapes. These are more aesthetically pleasing and recognizable.

Therefore I suggest an ARROW- a simple shape! innate! and can be arranged in interesting ways.


NAME

Vanitas is a Latin word for vanity, futility and was often used in 17 century arts to express concerns about the brevity and futility of the earthly human life. We could relate to the idea that life does not last for ever and we should start making the most of it ASAP. And do not worry about the things we are not able to afford as we do not really need them to achieve happiness. As Epicurus argued in his philosophy, people can become happier thanks to simple life. In our project we could also relate to the ideas of Adbusters to make people more aware of the fact that advertising often plays with our emotional needs to sell us stuff. What I think is important is to avoid the raging claims of his Kalle Lasn who wanted to beat "the archetypal mind polluters" such as McDonald's or Marlboro (as cited by Danesi 2005). In our project I would love to offer positive energy which is more constructive than just "fighting against".

If we stay with the idea of constructing the interface using the symbols of transience from 17 century art (skulls, still life, books etc.), we could stroke the swf content within the website with a frame like this one here. (image from:www.shutterstock.com)

Relating to the countdown. I found an interesting link online that creates a countdown for your website. I generated a trial version and placed into an HTML script. This is how it would look like on the black background. It is worth noting that that it is possible to eliminate the white rim (good news), but impossible to get rid of the other stuff (bad news). However, if we decide it is not sufficient I will have to get through tutorials and create our own flash-based countdown.