Pictures in and around my office
Filed under: Creative, Design and CSS, PhotoBlog, Places, Thoughts
I have been thinking for the past few days to post some pics that I took in and around my office in Falls Church, Virginia.
So here you go .. Nice sunny day outside, spring is almost here and you dont feel like sitting in the office anymore. Enjoy ~
Click on the pictures to enlarge and navigate using the arrow icons.
My office Building
Outside my Office
Agelia outside my Office
Tulips
Thats My Office Room
Thats My Office Room
Light and shade in the main entrance
Relaxing Greenery when I am stressed 
Another Design completed | Web 2.0 based
Filed under: Creative, Design and CSS, PhotoBlog, Thenetweaver Related, Thoughts
Web 2.0 based design
The designs can be found here.
I finished another design for a close friend of mine. This one is a free project for a startup based in Germany. I have sent the design to the team and awaiting a response. I hope that they will like it and that it will solve their purpose. The problem with startups is that you cannot be too experimental, with colors and such. They need to hit the market from day one and more conventional approach is preferred.
- Lots of importance to whitespace is intended. The darker BG is to make the whitespace pop.
- The Headline sizes have been carefully chosen to rank the items by importance.
- The Flash piece is envisioned to be rotating between 4 or 5 slides alongwith the text. So each slide will have it’s own text and Graphic.
- The font I have chosen is “Georgia”. In a recent survey, it was found that Sans fonts especially Georgia leaves a lasting imprint on the readers mind.
- The navigation is simple yet very clear so as not to confuse users. It is envisioned that the nav will drop down opening it’s own list
- I have included two boxes at the bottom and have repeated these boxes in the interior page. However these boxes can be changed according to your needs.
- I have followed the Web 2.0 standards while designing this site. That should explain the reason for using icons. Again a lasting imprint to the user.
Amari Chetonar Ronge …
Puro Kobita ta porte hole Chobite click korun
Aaj Maar sathe besh onekkhan chat hochilo Yahoo Messenger e. Kodin dhorei Robi Thakur er ei kobita ta mathar modhe ghur ghur korchilo kintu kitchutei mone aschilo na thikthak shabdogulo. Tai maake jiggesh korlam. Baba bole dilo aar Maa likkhe dilo kobita ta. Mon ta khushi hoye gelo onekdin pore kobita ta porte pere.
Er age internet e onek khujechi kintu paini. Tai amar maton onno keu jate internet e eshe ei kobita ta khuje pai tar janne ekhane post korchi.
Amari chetonar ronge
panna holo sabuj,
chuni uthhlo ranga hoye.
Ami chokh mellum akashe, alo jole uthhlo pube poschime.
Golaper dike takiye bollum sundor sundor holo se.
Tumi bolbe eto tatta katha, kobir bani noi, ami bolbo e satya taai e kabya.
New Design | Apr 17th 2009
Filed under: Creative, Design and CSS, PhotoBlog, Thenetweaver Related, Thoughts
So I was working on a new design yesterday and today, based on a few guidelines by our Editor in Chief and our Creative director.
The idea is to create a website which relates to “Social Networking” and wraps around our publication’s “News” content. So we wanted to create a “Social Networking” site which is “News” driven. Interesting huh ? !!
It’s not easy to satisfy people who are above you, and more so when these people know a lot about their subject. Both of these two people are extremely talented and it is my first time dealing with the former who is well known to have incub-ed CQ – congressional quarterly. The second person, my direct boss is very thorough in his subject which ranges from movie production to the nitty grittys of magazine production and design. Truely speaking I consider myself to be very lucky to be in touch with this versatile talent.
And then there is my all-time-friend-and-critique who goes by the name “Debarati” and incidentally happens to be my wife.
This is the design in debate
So after doing the design and having passed the initial round of debate with Jeff and David and selling them my ideas I sent out the design to Deb and this is what she said.
debaratibhatt (2:08:07 PM): but remember, someone who is handicapped will not get it
debaratibhatt (2:08:24 PM): color coding is not at all 508 compliant
biswarup99 (2:08:27 PM): whats an option ?
debaratibhatt (2:08:54 PM): will go over this in the weekend, if you can wait
biswarup99 (2:09:04 PM): i know .. but 98 percent of our readers will use this maybe we can use descriptions while coding
biswarup99 (2:09:05 PM): ok
debaratibhatt (2:09:46 PM): yes you can, but remember 48 percent is handicapped color wise
biswarup99 (2:09:58 PM): k
debaratibhatt (2:10:07 PM): not only blind fall in this category
biswarup99 (2:10:17 PM): hmm
debaratibhatt (2:10:19 PM): also color blind people are considered
debaratibhatt (2:10:22 PM): lol
biswarup99 (2:10:25 PM): yeah
biswarup99 (2:10:34 PM): well .. we’ll see
debaratibhatt (2:10:36 PM): blue and green is confusing to many
debaratibhatt (2:10:50 PM): yeah, unless your company pesters on these
biswarup99 (2:11:05 PM): which i think they will
debaratibhatt (2:11:30 PM): but you should be aware of all these while designing, and it’s added advantage for you too
…
…
…
…………. And I agree 100%. She sent me two links which I went through, and after careful consideration I am pretty convinced that the design needs to be changed, which means I will have to re-sell my concept to the big two. Ah Well !! That’s the life of a designer, and I Love it big time.
Here are the two links that Deb sent me, if anybody out there is interested to know more about usability and accessibility as regards to Web design and Development.
http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist
http://www.webaim.org/articles/visual/colorblind.php
I am currently studying more and more on “Accessibility in Web Design” and will come back to you with a post on what I learn soon. Thanks Deb for helping me out on this one !!
Cheers
Bis.
National Cherry Blossom Festival
Here’s an excerpt on the History of Cheery Blossom Festival from http://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
The Jefferson Memorial - Live band
In a simple ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two trees from Japan on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park. In 1915, the United States Government reciprocated with a gift of flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan. A group of American school children reenacted the initial planting in 1927 and the first “festival” was held in 1935, sponsored by civic groups in the Nation’s Capital.
First Lady Lady Bird Johnson accepted 3,800 more trees in 1965. In 1981, the cycle of giving came full circle. Japanese horticulturists were given cuttings from our trees to replace some cherry trees in Japan which had been destroyed in a flood.
The Festival was expanded to two weeks in 1994 to accommodate a diverse activity schedule during the trees’ blooming. Today, more than a million people visit Washington, DC each year to admire the blossoming cherry trees and attend events that herald the beginning of spring in the Nation’s Capital.
That's Us amongst Cherry Flowers
So we did go to see the Cherry Blossom Festival this year. Please check out few cool snaps of the festival and the crowd and of course us. standing out amongst the crowd 
As ever, I did have a strong headache just before we started to go around. For those who dont know, Cherry blossom fest takes place in and around the tidal basin in Wash DC, with Jefferson Memorial and the Monument as a backdrop.
The weather was fantastic, sunny, breezy. The atmosphere was very jovially-intoxicating. Lot’s of people came from different parts of the world to celebrate the festival of Cherry Flowers, which were initially gifted by Japan to the US.
Shenandoah – Camping Trip
Dont know How I forgot to write about this one, but better Late than never
We went to Shenandoah for a nights camp out and had loads of fun.
Born Free
Shenandoah National Park lies astride a beautiful section of the Blue Ridge, which forms the eastern rampart of the Appalachian Mountains between Pennsylvania and Georgia. In the valley to the west is the Shenandoah River, from which some feel the Park gets its name, and between the north and south forks of the river is Massanutten, a 40 mile long mountain. To the east is the rolling Piedmont country. Providing vistas of the spectacular landscape is Skyline Drive, a winding road that runs along the crest of this portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains through the length of the Park.
Enjoy some pictures.
The Ladies
Sunset from the Top
The Group