One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Talk with others about anything shrine-related, be it presentation, content or something else.
neo
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One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by neo »

When I seen the "One Page, One Month" event, I was stoked (I still am ^^).

I have just the web project for it and this is the best way to get the ball rolling. I've wrote down several ideas, but I'm still putting everything together.

If you don't mind me asking, where do you guys find inspiration for your own page? Is it from previous one-pagers?
Perhaps something else?
Any tips on how to make it user-friendly?

(: Thank you~!

SUPER Apologies, I swear I posted this in general discussion, if this is in the wrong place, deeply sorry ;-;
Last edited by neo on Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
VICTORY WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE
Destinie
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Re: One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by Destinie »

Do you need inspiration in finding a topic or starting to work on it?

For me, picking a topic is the easy part, I usually pick something that I have been wanting to do for a while and the One-Page helps kick-start it. To actually get working on the content is usually the difficult part for me, but, I find once I start writing I have difficulty stopping. XD I end up writing tons and just slapping it all on one page.

I look at other people who write their one pages for how they organize. I like some that include links as anchor tags that gives the illusion that it's multi-page when everything is just on one page.

I wouldn't worry about it being not user friendly. I think for one-pages most people are okay with scrolling and such. I just try to make sure that all my text is readable and doesn't hurt people's eyes when they look at it.

That's all I have! ^_^

(If you don't mind, this is shrine-related so I'm going to move it to the Shrine discussions forum.)
neo
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Re: One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by neo »

SUPER Apologies, I swear I posted this in general discussion, if this is in the wrong place, deeply sorry ;-; [or if this was moved, sorry I put it in the wrong place to begin with !]


I have my topic, and some ideas for the layout, and I guess my problems are what to talk about. ^^"

I have general profile information, history, some other categories but, I'm not quite sure what to talk about "in depth".

Thank you very much for the tips, Destinie (:
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Destinie
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Re: One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by Destinie »

((No worries, it's not a big deal if the topic needs to be moved. :3 Thanks for starting the discussion because I am sure there are other people who feel the same way.))

Ah, what to talk about is sometimes really tricky! I usually start with an outline that walks through some basic information and from there I look to expand. So, maybe I will start with an outline like this for a One-page shrine:

-Introduction
-Character Basics (appearance, personality, roles, etc.)
-Character's story (So here I would walk through the story focusing on the character.)
-Analytical essays (Because I like to talk about origins or other stories/characters that are inspired by the character at hand. Maybe I will talk about how I interpret the character or analyze the character's motives. Why did they do this or that? What was their driving force? Any personal or external conflicts I can elaborate on?)
-Some pictures and site stuff

The key to doing analytical writing is thinking as far outside of the box as you can. Even though the character's motives, for example, may be explained in the game, you as the fan are able to make any interpretations you want. Share with everyone theories you have based on the character whether it be their design, their world, their personality, their motives, or anything you can come up with.

I could keep rambling on but I hope that helps! ^_^
dubiousdisc
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Re: One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by dubiousdisc »

Welp, thread in the wrong forum, I suppose it's time to get out the guillotine...
...XD don't worry, brainfarts happen

Attacking the blank page is never easy. I do find inspiration in other people's pages; when I go through them I pay particular attention to the things that give personality to each project, and try to keep that in mind when I work on my own stuff.

To make a few examples and pimp out some of my favorite one page shrines...

Al Fine impresses me because of Aku's use of images not just to illustrate the text, but also to provide breathing room to an otherwise very text-heavy page. I also like how the character quotes are huge, to make the reader really focus on them. I'd say Vii's Firebrand uses a similar approach, too (plus the small media section that is included within the page - another cool feature). I would be lying if I didn't say that I had my eyes firmly on these projects when I was remaking Roller Queen, which I'm sure it can be seen from how I tackled the relationship between text and pictures.

I love how Weird is something in between a one-page and a multi-page shrine, and it's great how the site is extremely exhaustive in spite of its setup. I love how she made the titles of the episodes match the titles of her sections so perfectly, and I absolutely adore her way of dealing with a story that has so many spoilers by posing the questions about each plot point and then offering her own explanation once you click on the "show spoilers".

Then there's projects such as Lethe's Prisoner's Dilemma that include a wealth of analytic information. This shrine in particular impresses me because of just how much in-depth it goes in the room of a single page. It makes me wish to be able to do that!

These examples aside, as to how to decide what to write about, my personal approach is: what is it that I really love about this subject? Then I write freely about it. The result might be included directly as it is in the final version of the website or I rework it into multiple sections where I elaborate more on it.

I hope this is of any help!
Mikari
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Re: One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by Mikari »

This time it was easy for me to pick a topic... Snow poked me about it XD and it's also something I've been meaning to do since forever. The possibility of sites by Snow & Cherri on related subjects in the future also helped motivate me and I do love the fandom for the series where the subject is from (and also the subject of course). I actually haven't gotten a message back yet, but either way, this is definitely something I plan to do, really. it's so over due. XD
Todd
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Re: One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by Todd »

I agree with everything Destinie said! Adding to it:

I think the first thing you need to decide is what you wish to accomplish with your one pager. Do you want to make a fully analytical site to the character, or simply introduce the character to visitors? Deciding that will help you lay out your content more effectively.

I do agree that making a small outline will help a ton. I'm a huge fan of outlining, and outline all of my sites, but it's super helpful with one pagers in particular because you don't have a lot of room to write, and having a plan in place will help you make a more well-rounded site.
SnowRayjah
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Re: One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by SnowRayjah »

Mikari wrote:This time it was easy for me to pick a topic... Snow poked me about it XD and it's also something I've been meaning to do since forever. The possibility of sites by Snow & Cherri on related subjects in the future also helped motivate me and I do love the fandom for the series where the subject is from (and also the subject of course). I actually haven't gotten a message back yet, but either way, this is definitely something I plan to do, really. it's so over due. XD

YOU DESERVED IT. It's revenge for Madoka sites. ;w; (Seriously, I love you.) I might sign up for a second if I can figure out what I want to do with the site in question.

In response to Neo, Whatever idea strikes me, I'll use. My one page for the event was spawned by a Rod Stewart song and the idea that it fit a character in some obscure way. I couldn't let the idea go then.

My hardest challenge is being concise enough because I can elaborate way too much on silly things. I tend to lean towards one pages for practice in being concise and for minor characters. I find outlines help to set up everything. But I'm picky on the way I do it. And I tend to write whatever comes to mind. My outlines tend to be way too extensive so even for a one page I need to edit A LOT. I think for user friendly indenting paragraphs is a nice thing (it gives my eyes a break). I tend to have walls of text, though, so maybe I shouldn't talk about "user friendly". My biggest concern is having nice contrast to background and text for ease of reading. Preferably light background with dark text as I find it easiest to read.

As a side note, it's always better to have TOO much to cover than not enough. Editing and revising is the easier part I think. I'd rather edit and revise and cut things out than have to add (or come up with something to fill space).
My dear, the truth is simple. We're all mad here.
Mikari
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Re: One Page, One Month : How do you find inspiration?

Post by Mikari »

I actually have an idea for a second one but I'm in the process of taking on a second job so I might probably won't have time to sign up. At least I got to finish the one I did sign up for.
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