Evaluation

Evaluation

I have enjoyed this project as we have learnt a lot of new skills and programmes. 

Although creating my website quite early on in the brief when we were first given it, i didn't like the way it was laid out or the fonts that i had originally used.

 So it took me a lot of research into other portfolios to find a simplistic style  as i have found that a lot of other portfolios can be to busy, thus taking your eye away from the work that they have actually created. 

I think that my website has worked out really well, although there is a couple of glitches i would have liked to have been able to fix, but couldn't find out how to, but i still think it represents who i am, as a designer. 

I feel there are a couple of things i could change about my website, i would have liked to host it but  i unfortunately couldn't afford to. I feel it could be made better by finishing off creating large photo pages for my photography portfolio page, as i only managed to create the first image.

On the homepage, the Graphic Design Portfolio buttons font looks slightly smaller then the rest of the buttons. Im unsure of how this happened as it was created in catalyst and was the same size as the other buttons but has somehow shrunk a little. Also the image that appears with the Photography portfolio button on the homepage sometimes stays there to long, even when on the graphic design button. 

Overall i feel that i have managed my time well on this project, although i feel i should of done more research into other portfolios before i created my first attempt at the website, as now my website works well.

creating my website

I created another wireframe of my home page as i found that some of my other ideas weren't working out, I feel this new idea will work better throughout my website.

After finding a design that would work with my website, i went on to create a web map, so i could plan how many pages i was going to have and what pages would link.

This shows that i will have my main homepage which will have connections to my Graphic Design portfolio, my photography portfolio, about section and contact. I have then gone onto creating 5 more pages which connect to my graphic design portfolio. and an extra one for my photography portfolio which revel larger images of the thumbnails seen on my portfolio. 

After creating the wireframe, it was easy enough to create a visual using illustrator before placing it into flash catalyst. Although i did have quite a bit of trouble deciding on a font that would work with my main font. In the end i chose to work with Couture bold for the main blue font and sheep sans for the small font.

I then transferred my work from illustrator across to flash catalyst. I made sure i had put a grid into catalyst  otherwise i don't think my page would have worked that well.

I then went onto making my buttons work, and thought i could give a taster of what was to come in the portfolio sections by placing an image in the over state of the button, with a 60% transparency, i like the way this has turned out.

I created thumbnails on photoshop. I made the thumbnails 150 by 200 pixels which is a quarter of the size of the web page. I feel this size worked well for my web layout.

After getting all my thumbnails the right size i placed them into a portfolio page, which was pretty easy to do the layout on as i already the design of the homepage to work off of. I made all the images on the portfolios buttons and then added a blur effect to them so only when you roll over the image does it clear.  

The buttons then link to a larger image with information about it.

I wanted to make the image large so the viewer could see the full image rather then part of it like in the thumbnail and read about the images.

I added a section about myself as a designer and a page for people to contact me.

Wireframe moc ups

Homepage wireframe ideas

This is one of my first wireframe moc ups for my website, i was thinking of keeping the homepage as simple as possible. Maybe have a large image from my portfolio as the background, but i feel it may be to distracting from the other information on the page. 

I quite like this idea of having a line which flows through the page, with the images from my portfolio attached, i will keep the colours simple. as you click on the images it brings you to one of the portfolios and also can link you to my about and contact sections.

This wireframe is meant to represent a Polaroid with the links at the bottom which would be in a hand written font. I quite like this idea but i feel the one above would work better. 

Portfolio wireframe

Simple layout with all portfolio images laid out, click on the images and it takes you to a larger sized image with information about it.

I prefer this design.

Inspiration

The layout of this website is very simple and clean, i like how the links are easily accessible and the website flows nicely.

Another webpage with very simplistic design, i think i will keep my page as simple as possible.

I like the scrollbar idea for this webpage, using the image with a scroller over the top.

The website works well due to the clever layout of the type which leads your eyes down the page. I like the fact they have only used a hint of colour with the black and white.

I feel this way of presenting my portfolio work would be best.

Clean cut and the colours used works nicely with each other. Simple.