Featured Work
- Work Type: E-Commerce
- Media: Website, Brand Development
- Work Type: E-Learning
- Media: iPhone Concept, Brand Development
- Work Type: Senior Thesis
- Media: Website, 3ds Max, Google API
- Work Type: Non-Profit Organization
- Media: Website, PHP/Mysql Driven
News
12.14.09
Welcome to the online portfolio of Igor Plaksiy, an online interactive designer and developer. As you browse through this website, you will encounter some of the various works I have created while traveling through my perilous journey of design and development. Developing a website requires much more than simply creating a design, coding it, and exposing it to the world. It requires research, conceptualization, and a clearly identified call to action. To your left, I have included four pieces of work that clearly identify this concept.
12.13.09
Please use the left-hand navigation to browse through my work. It includes some simple rollover functions to help you decide where you would like to go.
Contact Info
- Igor Plaksiy: Resume / Linkedin
- Email: inp.design@igorplaksiy.com
- Status: Interested in full time opportunities
Design for the Masses
Before the internet boom of the early 2000's, the internet, or as some may have called it "the information superhighway," lacked one very crucial element that sparked its evolution: user-centered design. During the golden age of Geocities and Lycos Go Get It, people were creating websites simply to create them. In fact my first website was actually a webpage. It was a LONG page that featured many of my ridiculously adolescent experiences. The page was hosted by AOL and was created by using their online HTML tool. This was 1998 and I was 12 years old.
I remember staying up late to graze through htmlgoodies.com and write code during road trips on my dad's extremely old organizer. It didn't have wireless internet and maxed out at 5mb of storage space, yet I would code anyway and upload it online when I would get home. The organizer didn't even have a browser; I would simply imagine what the website would look like and code it out using old html code. No one ever knew about this hobby of mine and in fact no one really had a clue until I took a web development class my freshman year of high school. The class was meant for seniors, but after showing some of my web sites, I was allowed to enter.
While studying for my undergraduate degree at The Art Institute of Tampa, I was embraced with the powerful knowledge of user-centered design, a concept which I rarely took into consideration. After all of my previous web experience, I never once stopped to think about the end user. After a rigorous case study was completed in redeveloping a website for moviewatcher.com, my mind was changed. I began to look at all digital interaction and its relationship to the user. Remote controls, phones, microwaves, cameras, and even my daughters musical boxes all had my attention. I was changed as both a designer and a developer.
Testimonials
"Igor is very gifted at conceptualizing an idea. When he is introduced with a project, he immideately begins to spin-off new ideas that could be included within the main focus. It's a trait that is commonly seeked throughout the web industry."
Steve Schmidt
Web Designer
Objective
To continue my passion for design, development, and execution of web and mobile related content by pursuing a career in web design and development.
Education
- The Art Institute of Tampa
- B.F.A. Web Design and Interactive Media
- As a senior thesis, researched, designed, and presented a modified digital approach to the National Highway Directional Signage System.
- As part of a serverside development study, redesigned and redeveloped a website for Meals on Wheels of Tampa, a non-profit organization.
Experience
- Triad Digital Media - May 2009 to Present
- Client-side Designer/Developer
- Part of a front-end development team in charge of designing, building, and maintaining Sam's Club Member Services online.
- Southern Vending Services - January 2008 to Present
- Managing Consultant
- Maintain ten clients within the Tampa Bay area focusing primarily on quarterly marketing strategies and on-site service repairs.
- Amutrade - July 2008 to April 2009
- Content Developer
- Designed, developed, and maintained all of the navigation and primary content while focusing on popular internet marketing strategies.
- Internship/RevealIt Limited - January 2005 to June 2005
- Assistant Graphic Designer
- Assisted with research and design of the Schumacher Place Community brand.
Skills
- Experienced use of the Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Captivate, Final Cut Pro, and Soundtrack Pro.
- Experienced use of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, Business Plan Pro, and Marketing Plan Pro.
- Using XML, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, and Flash to design and develop websites adhering to W3C standards.
- Serverside maintenance with PHP and MYSQL languages.
- Using proper SEO & SEM strategies in order to maintain website relevance within popular search engines.
- Speaks fluent Russian and English.
Send me a comment
To leave a comment, please fill out the form below:
Contact Info
- Name: Igor Plaksiy
- Phone: +1 727.412.1555
- Email: inp.design@igorplaksiy.com
- Location: Oldsmar, Florida
My Social Networks
Amutrade.com
Amutrade.com is a comprehensive online trading source for the arcade and amusement industry. The online services allow the average arcade and amusement business to manage and sell its equipment quickly and efficiently without the hassle of going to an auction or using an online auction service. Amutrade.com has been created to help these companies achieve this goal by increasing their profit through the use of its services.
Search Results Page
In order to help customers find their desired products relatively fast, a unique search results page was designed to limit as much confusion as possible. The left column allows users to narrow their search based on different characteristics. The central column uses specific keywords to describe the various products listed. Each result has a unique row, clearly defining each product.
Product Page
In order to build the credibility of our seller community, Amutrade will focus its resources to help sellers turn their product into revenue by using the best resources available.
Video has been dominating the online community and it was only a matter of time before it found its way to being featured on listing websites. Amutrade will be the first online listing website that offers video descriptions. These descriptions could show video of the product sold or its level of playable stability.
Software Used:
- Adobe Photoshop CS4
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- OsCommerce
Case History:
Amutrade.com - Brand Development
Initial development of the Amutrade brand relied heavily on the typeface that would be chosen to identify the company's brand identity. It was important to maintain a professional atmosphere by including a typeface that could be displayed in all capital letters. Although the typeface performs its objective, after further analysis, it was determined that a graphical element would strengthen the identity of the company.
The "umbrella" theme was the original approach to the brand and would focus on helping customers feel secured under the Amutrade wing. Unfortunately, this concept did not last long due to the idea already being used by another major financial institution.
As conceptual design continued, it became apparent that "trust" and "credibility" were two of the most important elements the market had been looking for. In order to unite these two elements together, a spiral graphical element was added to the brand. Not only did the spiral add a sense of efficiency to the overall identity, it indirectly created a sub-character. The word "trade" is located directly above the larger spiral and produces a facial character. This facial character could indefinetely be used within a future marketing strategy
Case History:
Amutrade.com - Homepage Design
Once the brand identity had been created, it was necessary to carry over the identity characteristics into the overall design of the website. The concept began with a clear call to action that would engage the user as soon as he would load the page. It was initially believed that the primary concern for Amutrade would be searching and locating any item as quickly as possible. Given the wide variety of products, it was natural to assume such a course of action.
After performing an end-user study, it became evident that users were less concerned with how to search and were more concerned about what type of services the website actually offers. After this study, a new call to action was developed: the tour. The tour would allow users to browse through the many services that Amutrade offers, finally offering a free membership at the end.
With the redesign of Beta 2.0, a featured listings panel was added and after another end-user study was found to be highly effective in engaging the audience. The users enjoyed having the option to browse through some of the featured listings and possibly purchase them without even registering for a membership.
Case History:
SolTech
The following application was designed to convey what an online learning environment might look like on the Apple iPhone. Soltech is a fake company that specializes in the installation of solar panels. This application was designed for the employees of Soltech that would eventually be required to complete the program. Allowing the application to reside within the mobile phone would allow the trainees to be present on site working alongside the other employees as well as completing their training program.
The presentation has been created in flash to allow some user interaction between the application.
Software Used:
- Adobe Photoshop CS4
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- Adobe Flash CS4
Smart Solutions
Smart Solutions began as a senior research study at the The Art Institute of Tampa during the 2008 spring quarter. The main focus of this study was to establish a thesis which revolved around the use of graphic and intermediate design and its benefit to society. The following question was used to successfully answer the thesis.
"Can Interactive Design Improve the U.S. Highway Directional Signage System?"
The idea is to build a highway directional system that interacts with automobile drivers. The new directional signs would be developed out of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) digital screens and would run entirely on a solar panel/grid system. Since these highway signs would be digital, they could enjoy the freedom of immediate updates allowing the sign to not only tell you where you should go, but inform you about the conditions you should expect to run into while traveling. Further development of a signage network could allow a sign to update automatically based on the position of the sun and the amount of glare it may receive.
Software
- Adobe Photoshop CS4
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- Autodesk 3DS Max
- Google API
Case History:
Digitally Illuminated Background
Instant Updating 1
Instant Updating 2
Alternative Route Updating
Smart Solutions - Explanation
As research continued towards the positive facts in the use of green illuminated backgrounds, I was able to justify that if modern signs were presented on a black digital screen, they would eliminate the need for an illuminated surface and would extend the possibility of change and improvement.
The current use of highway signage is in no doubt functional. Its development has continued to help millions of people travel on the highway and reach their desired destinations. This however does not mean that any further innovation should be abandoned. By implementing a digital signage system, motorists could become even more dependent on these signs due to their ability to instantly update and relay traffic information that may inhibit travel on that particular highway.
Once the concept was developed, I began focusing on one primary task; instant updating. If we are going to use digital signs to direct the public, then it's only natural to include instant traffic updating. The signs would run on a shared network and would update themselves automatically in cases of construction, weather, or automobile accidents.
The signs would take this information and relay it to all drivers. As a driver would pass the sign, it would notify him about any conditions ahead and what options the driver has before reaching the troubled zone. Such a feature could help drivers take alternate routes to bypass traffic conditions.
Centralizing information about road conditions to one sign would eliminate the use of bulky LCD warning signs that are currently in use. This change would cut unnecessary spending costs for alternative signs and would begin to push forward a standardization of digital directional signs with updating technology.
Case History:
Meals on Wheels of Tampa Bay
Meals on Wheels began as a server side scripting study aimed at helping the Tampa Bay community. The focus of the study was to redesign and redevelop the entire Meals on Wheels website to work with a database structure using PHP and MYSQL. Before there was design, there was research. From the initial visit, it became clear that the current website for Meals on Wheels was lacking innovation and was not cross-browser compatible. Its navigation was created using Javascript and was not effectively consistent.
Initially, the design was created to fit within an 800x600 to adjust to senior citizens that might use its services. Later on however, it became evident that many of the people that use the website were relatives or friends of the people that were actually seeking help, thus guiding the change to 1024x768.
The final redesign included a completely new navigational system that could help restructure the sites content.
Software Used:
- Adobe Photoshop CS4
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- PHP
- MYSQL
