A.V. HIGH GRAD HAS SOME BIG DESIGNS TEAM WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR MAKEOVER OF POPPY FESTIVAL WEB SITE.Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Staff Writer LANCASTER -- Kevin Viera says the best ideas seem to pop up at the oddest times. "Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night and sketch it out, or when I'm in the shower," he said with a smile. "A lot of the ideas come in the most random places." Considering Viera's success as a budding Web designer, the ideas seem to be good ones. Viera, a 2006 Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley High grad, led a design team of two seniors at his alma mater ma·ter n. Chiefly British Mother. [Latin m  ter; see m and another alum alum (ăl`əm), any one of a series of isomorphous double salts that are hydrated sulfates of a univalent cation (e.g., potassium, sodium, ammonium, cesium, or thallium) and a trivalent cation (e.g. that won the prestigious International Festivals and Events Association The International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) is a not-for-profit association for producers, suppliers and managers of festivals and events, which range from small county and municipal events to large-scale parades that can have attendances in the hundreds of thousands. Pinnacle Award in the under-$250,000 budget division of the educational networking category. Viera, Justin Malara, who graduated from high school in 2004, and seniors R.J. Gutierrez and Gaby Plascencia are credited with giving the city of Lancaster's Poppy Festival Web site an extreme makeover. The foursome are products of Antelope Valley High's Information Systems Academy. The academy has worked with the city for eight years designing multiple Web sites, including one for the Big 8 Softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' Complex. The academy has designed the Poppy Festival's site (www.poppyfestival.com) the past six years. Association spokeswoman Nia Forster said the competition drew more than 1,600 entries in 60 different categories. She said the entries were submitted by professionals, and were judged on content efficiency and layout design. Lancaster special events manager Laurie Butts said designing the Web site presented unique challenges. "It has to translate the color, smell and atmosphere of the festival, but it also has to provide information in a user-friendly format," she said. "We were very impressed that these students competed against professional graphic designers to win the coveted cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. award." Gary Allen, the academy's director, said the genius of the design Viera employed was its simplicity, effectively using open white space. "Design is an art, and (Viera) just has an eye," Allen said. Viera said he sought to give the Web site a more updated feel, relying less on graphics overload and more on usability. "It looked like it was made in the '90s," he said. "We made it cleaner, more user-friendly." Viera, now an Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. student who plans to pursue a career in advanced-level computer science, credits his development to the hands-on approach Allen's academy emphasizes. "I learned more than I thought I would at the academy," he said. "A lot of the classes here are the same level as the college classes I'm taking right now. I would definitely recommend it." gideon.rubin@dailynews.com (661) 267-7802 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Antelope Valley High School Antelope Valley High School is located in Lancaster, California and is part of the Antelope Valley Union High School District. It was founded in 1912[1]. It is located in the Mojave Desert. graduate Kevin Viera is shown with his award-winning design for Lancaster's Poppy Festival Web site. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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