Author Archive
Dragon Ben- the site
I am not sure what happened but for some reason I thought I had posted this already! Anywho, here is the site, splashpage and all- please go through with your fresh eyes and catch any typos or errors that you spot! 
Mushon, I haven’t added the site map, privacy etc - do I need to as these are mainly text pages and hardly related to the site.
Dragon Ben’s- kicking in revisions
I thought I might as well get it over with when the feedbacks are fresh in my head. I have incorporated all the comments and made changes that I thought were valid for the pages I created for Friday past. Thank you Renda and everyone- every comment is valuable and goes to prove that many eyes are always better than one!
Anyhow, here is the return of the pages with the valuable inputs which hopefully got translated well-
The pages (clean version):
The pages with the grid:
Dragon Ben- still kicking…
Thank you everyone for your polite comments. I did some tweaks to the earlier pages as well apart from the new 3 pages from the site- 2 or 3 more and my site is done! The class timings were all 4 pm (even though I had uploaded the new file) because wordpress wouldn’t allow me to upload the correct file till I named it differently from the previous file even if I deleted the earlier file from the server!) and it left it up to me to figure that out! The colors are still strong because those are from the logo which is from the Korean flag and I think they correspond well to martial arts as well- think belts, think taekwondo. I have tried to line up everything to the grid and be more legible but my eyes are tired so if you can spot the mistakes, you don’t have to be polite about it. There are many more minute changes but I am sure you guys are smart enough to figure them out. For all problems and mistakes, please be ruthless.
The site in 5 pages (actually 10):
Dragon Ben- Round 2
Thank you all for comments in the class an the blog. It made my life interesting! 
Here’s round 2, Dragon Ben reloaded:
About Page
Class Schedule Page:
So much fun @ the internet- xBhp.com
xBhp.com, in brief:
India’s largest motorcycling community with over 35000 members worldwide. It is mainly a online forum but is known for organizing a lot of events and has credible real world presence.
Membership grew from a 1000 in 2003 to 35000 by the end of 2007.
Why?
To discuss motorcycles, troubleshoot, post reviews, travel, organize events and even give feedback to motorcycle companies about their bikes and further improvements.
What does xbhp mean?
‘x’ is a variable (like in algebra for those who remember) and bhp is of course ‘brake horsepower’. The ‘x’ refers to the amount of horsepower of each member’s motorcycle and it can be even 0 if he/she does not have a bike. The club does not discriminate against the size or make of bike or even the possession of one! All it needs is a enthusiasm for motorcycles and motorcycling in India and the world in general.
Who can join?
Everyone- young, old, men, women, bikers, car drivers- there is no discrimination and there are no charges to become a member.
Most members are men and Indians though the number of women and international members is increasing steadily.
Why is it relevant?
It is the story of a guy who wanted to find more about his bike and other like minded people through a very basic site. It was like being at the right place at the right time and the site has grown by leaps and bounds inviting heavy traffic everyday. There have been problems in maintaining it and finding sponsorships but now, sponsors are easy to find mainly due to xbhp’s increasing credibility. The club is in the forefront of the change in the motorcycling scene in India where the major companies constantly interact with it to gain feedback on what the consumers want and even invite the members to official launches or sneak peek of its newest products.
Many people have grown big in this venture as well. Small companies have grown in size because of the publicity the forum offers them. Bigger companies find yet one more way to advertise themselves. Some members have joined the top automotive magazines in India. Some even opened their own business ventures bringing in world class motorcycle gear into India and some even started their own line! In the end, however, members mature into real and responsible bikers and not into the image of outlaws and gangs that most associate with motorcyclists!
The main point is that all it needs is a idea and a lot of enthusiasm and being prepared to sacrifice sometimes. And no one would have imagined that the club would grow so big just 4 years ago. And it all happened through one little site.
(Oh yeah, the guy is a freelance graphic designer just in case anyone wanted to know)
No tag for this post.Dragon Ben site pages
Here are my images for the two pages I designed- its true, photoshop slows the whole process for me too.
About page:
About Page with grid:
Class Schedule page:
Class Schedule page with grid:
Information Architecture- Dragon Ben’s Tae Kwon Do
Here’s my Information Architecture for the website that I will be creating for Dragon Ben’s TaeKwonDo Gym. The last page has a site map to just lay out the structure of the website in one page. I did not get into too many details but hopefully this should work.
Whats in my hood
So I was scouting around and thought of a flower shop, a liquor shop, a garage, a printing shop and a tailor shop amongst others. I live in a Jewish residential area way down in Brooklyn called Boro Park and all the businesses are mostly owned by Jewish folks though I stumbled on this one place, which I thought would be interesting to make a website for. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Dragon Ben’s Tae-Kwon-Do, a martial arts gym- which shall be the object of my attention for this project.
Where?
Right opposite the subway- two and half blocks away from my place. Neighborhood is primarily Jewish though there are significant numbers of Hispanics and South Asians as well.
Who?
Master Benjamin Ha - the owner and trainer of the place, has won many medals displayed proudly in the one room space and so have his students in recent competitions. He has a myspace page so I think a website is the next logical step for him. He already has a logo and as you would expect from the name, it has a dragon in it!
What?
Training given in Tae Kwon Do to people of all ages and sexes. From third graders to office goers to housewives, anyone can join.
Why?
Its fun to kick ass!
Interface- the good, the bad, the ugly
Interface, as I like to understand, is something that aids the interaction between two bodies/forces and also the level of interaction between them. At the human level, it is what helps people to do tasks- simple or complicated.
In the above sense, I would say the most well designed non-digital interface would be the motorcycle because every human body part has a role to play while riding it and if the rider does one thing wrong, it can be fatal. The interaction level between the rider and bike is at almost 100%. On the flip-side, one of the other interfaces I can think of is the automatic-gear car- its the car for dummies which has saved people a lot of hard work in city traffic by minimizing the amount of feedback that the driver needs to put in!
Coming to digital interfaces, I will stick with automobiles (and a bit of phone/navigational technology) and say that the car/bike GPS navigation system is revolutionary. It allows people to locate themselves on the map, find directions when lost and even find places to eat/shop/relax in places they have never been to! All within seconds. The input and output in this interface is well balanced and you have to appreciate how it functions between a human user, a satellite and several other devices for extra inputs. And yeah, most of these systems don’t lose signals like cellphone unless the battery dies!
One of the worst interfaces we have is possibly the bureaucracy but it is probably a necessary evil because everywhere that it exists, it is the backbone of that place maintaining a complex flow of information and keeping it all together- we all hate it but if you really think about it, you cannot really do without. I know- I tried and tried and tried.
Disrupted signals
on 
