Changes to my website

• I added "next/last" buttons to the gallery
• I made the hard to see gallery images clickable, so that they become larger
• I added copyright to the footer
• I gave the info in the design section more hierarchy
• I added what programs and skills were utilized in the design work
• I made the image on the homepage smaller
• I fixed the "home" rollover button

Critique of Site Thus Far

People who critiqued site:
Cherise Wilson (Friend/AI Student)
Zach Peterson (Friend/AI Student)
George Chen (Designer in Residence at Alternative Tentacles Records)

Common/useful criticisms:
1. Include more text links, and make it more blog-like.
2. Make images in portfolio section larger.
3. Make Image(s) on homepage smaller, so that the viewer doesn't have to scroll to get to the nav bar.
4. Include media/programs used to create each piece in description of work.
5. Include "next" and "previous" buttons in gallery.
6. Make info larger/more legible on "contact" page.
7. Break up "about" info into more concise sections
8. Say "price dependent on project" instead of "prices negotiable"
9. Prioritize pieces on strength and have some of the thumbnails at larger sizes.
10. Take jagged black edge off of "home" button rollover.
11. Put copyright in the footer.
12. Spelling/Grammar.
13. Either talk about photography in my "about" section or don't give include it in the gallery.

Response:

I do agree that the making the site more blog-like would be more user friendly, however it looks less professional, and the links could get redundant. I definitely agree that the images could, and should, be bigger to show off my design skills.  It would be very helpful to include what media/programs were used to create each piece. It will showcase my technical skills. The next and the previous buttons are a great idea. Making the viewer continuously click “back” would try their patience.  I am aware that my contact info needs to be more legible (probably will just have to redraw or use an actual legible font). I will find another way to say “prices negotiable.” The way I have it right now makes me sound like a prostitute. While I do think it’s a good idea to prioritize the work, I feel that resizing them accordingly would be redundant and just give the page less unity. The “home” button rollover will have its jagged border taken off (or cleaned up). I don’t know how the hell I missed adding a copyright, so that will be fixed, along with the equally obvious spelling errors. I think it would also behoove me to talk about my photography/music background in the “about” section, because there is no way I’m not including the photography on my site, since one of my main targets is bands. 

portfolio

Here's a screenshot of the code for my portfolio page. The page is very simply arranged and easy to navigate. Each category of the portfolio has its own section, with thumbnails of all the projects, and to view each project, you just click on the thumbnail, which then takes you to a separate page with the full image, and for most of them, an explanation of the project. The markup for the site will be visible through search engines because I put what each project is in the alt text so it will show up in google and whatnot. I am also planning on throwing some key words into the head tag.

Photoshop Tutorial

I made a button.

Landing Page

This Week's Guest Speaker

Patrick Schwerdtfeger was our guest speaker on the subject of creative use of social media. It was really interesting and useful because a lot of times when something like facebook or twitter is talked about, the conversation tends to lean towards how they're time wasters and such. This event was useful because it showed how these websites can be incredibly useful for increasing one's visibility on the internet, because it helped us realize that since so many people waste time on these sites, they are the perfect places to advertise and utilize for self promotion. The example that stuck out the most to me was this one pizza place he talked about that offered discounts to customers who tweeted in their orders, and so not only did more customers order because of the discounts, but everyone who follows them on twitter just saw that they ordered from that restaurant, and that increased business. I thought that was really cool because it is useful to know how to do DIY advertising and promotion really easily, and on very high profile avenues. 

Asset List

For my website, the intended pages are going to be:
1. Index (home)
2. About
3. Work
4. Contact

I dont plan on having any videos on the site itself, and there will not be any sound on the site either (its annoying when you go onto a page and some noise just starts blasting). As far as file that will be on the site, it will mostly just be the image galleries for my work, and a self portrait jpg for the about section. I will also need to use my logo as a button so I'll have to upload that, as well as a sketch or two for the home page.