Matt Fiske - Web site designer

email: webmaster@theartemisia.com


Farewell

For the past three years I've been The Artemisia's Web designer and Web maintainer. During that time I was also a writer, photographer, videographer, page designer and a number of other fill-in positions. The work was hard, often unappreciated and time-intensive, not just for myself, but for all of the administrative staff.

A lot of people thought (and still do think) that The Artemisia is a joke. A waste of the ASUN's money. That may or may not be true depending on your perspective, but from mine it was well-worth the ASUN's expense.

The Artemisia gave people a chance to write, design and shoot photos for a publication, that had it not existed, they may not have had as much an opportunity to refine their respective crafts.

When I first joined, David Calvert was editor, and his vision for The Artemisia was more photo-centric. After Kevin Clifford took over, the photo-emphasis was kept, but he expanded on it, encouraging the embrace of stories and new media. For two years he and Assistant Editor Crista Hecht helped to breathe new life in The Artemisia, increasing its staff and redefining its purpose from yearbook to magazine. Along with the help of Laura Licari's long hours and persistent patience with deadline mishaps, the magazine came back from the dead to hopefully achieve a renewed importance.

As Kevin and Crista graduate this spring and Laura and I step aside to let a new staff continue to improve things, I just wanted to say thanks to the readership, the ASUN and the other publications. With a bit of elbow grease and her point-by-point plan, Clarissa Leon's upcoming changes are sure to keep The Artemisia headed in the right direction.

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About Matt

I'm a mediocre web and page layout designer who's struggling through integrated marketing communications to try and get a career that lets me use xhtml, css, pHp and Photoshop along with other media production items. I do web, print, video, graphic design and a little photography. I'm also a reporter.

News: The Artemisia Web site is showcased on the popular Web design site Design Meltdown under the "black and white" section.



About this site:

I designed this site from scratch because I wanted to try something that embraced some of the traits that the Web 2.0 movement promotes.

One of those traits is user-interaction. Stories, blog entries and news all have a comment system. There is a poll question that will change on a weekly basis. Submission utilities also allow you to post articles directly to other social networking sites. Also, there's a contact form at the bottom of every page so you can send us an email whenever you want.

Another trait is design. I added 3D elements, rounded corners, used lots of gradients and have started using various icons to make the user interface more attractive. These are characteristics of most contemporary sites, so hopefully it helps us look contemporary as well. My concern in doing this was that the site would lose some of its prior originality, but I don't think that's happened.

The color scheme is primarily black and white, with emphasis on black. I chose this because I believe it helps the colors in individual articles stand out better. An example would be "It Costs How Much?"

Another trait is timely content. The Artemisia will still release the magazine one to two times a semester, but online will focus more on daily stories and features. One item that changes everyday is the featured wallpaper, so make sure to check back regularly. Because content is going to be added with more frequency, I also added an RSS Feed so users can quickly see what's new.

On top of that the site still offers what the old one did: videos, photo galleries, and the magazine features.