Visiting the Baltic

I have visited the Baltic to see the Jenny Holzer exhibition. I found it really interesting looking at her LED work as I worked with light during my A level course.  I made a hollow leg cast using different shades of wool in PVA glue and filled it with fairy lights to create unusual light patterns (shown below). The lights looked really pretty and created a calm atmosphere, it is her use of words that create the emotion and exploration into deeper meanings. I find this captivating, I want to be able to create a visually stimulating website that attracts users into reading further into it in the same way as Holzer.

I want to attend other gallerys in Newcastle to see if I can find other exhibitions that may be helpful to me for this course or that I simply have an interest in. I have checked what is on at the Laing Art Gallery online, I am quite interested in seeing the 60’s exhibition as I covered this era as an A level module.

Professional? I hope so!

Today I have created an email account for professional use. I used google mail for this and chose an account name missamyscott@googlemail.com. I wanted a simple email address that simply stated my name, I am happy with this address eventhough I would have prefered amyscott@googlemail.com however, this wasn’t available. I will now be able to put this address on my portfolio contact page for users to contact me from.

The wonders of Wordpress…

I have changed my wordpress theme to make my content readable, before my blog content was hard to read on my background. I have found a one that suits the layout I want. It has a horizontal navigation like I wanted as well as a search facility which although isn’t essential for a portfolio site could be helpful for users to find information they require quickly without having to use the main navigation to do so.

I really want a javascript banner at the top of my site. As part of my development one of my aims is to learn basic javascript, I hope to achieve this in the future.

This is my design so far, below.

I have started to lay out my page and focused on the banner to start with. I have included my logo I created previously, I am going to use the purple as an accent colour throughout my website design. I have looked at brushes I could use to add subtle detail to my design and downloaded a set of brushes I think will work well from http://www.brusheezy.com. I want to keep my design quite simple as it looks more professional to visitors. My main priority is to ensure users read the content within my portfolio and see work I have produced, I want to make this easy for them and I believe keeping my design simple but stylish will ensure they do.

Not a lot of work but I learnt a great deal!

Lack of progress

I have been working all weekend so haven’t had any time to work on my PPD. I really wanted to get my portfolio re-designed.  I am going to start my design tonight in Photoshop.

Learning curve

Last night I met an artist at work called Barry. We discussed our interests in art, work we have done and what we are currently working on. He wrote down his portfolio site and other sites his work is futured on or he made. I am going to check these out. He also said I could visit his work place and see his work. I am really interested in doing this to get an insight into his method of working and concepts.

Researching Barry’s website

I was unable to access one of the websites he probvided me with (www.stances.co.uk) however, I did access his portfolio site www.barrydox.co.uk. I found this wasn’t a good quality website however, it was querky and did make me laugh. This is mainly due to Barry’s photo edits. I was really interested in looking at his work. I love art and how something can be interpreted so differently by so many people. A piece of art can look hurrendous to one person and fantasic to another simply due to personal preference and the difference in the way people percieve art. I have never thought about this when designing for web, I am pleased I have had this opportunity to think about this as I will take this into consideration for future projects. Although, I have always taken the target audience into huge consideration when designing before this research, I will now look at it from a whole new angle, artistic.

Editing my photo

Today I looked for a Photoshop tutorial to experiment with photograph editing. I found a really helpful site that provided me with a sketch style edit.  Here is a before and after view of my photograph.

Before

After

I am really pleased with my first attempt at this. Now I know how to do this I think I will be able to use it to create a less formal style image which I could perhaps use in my portfolio site like a designer I researched at the beginning of this course.

Freelancer Lee Simpson’s talk

Yesterday a Freelance web designer, Lee Simpson talked about his self taught skills in web design and his freelance experience.  Lee made it clear disipline was key in freelancing, I don’t think I could be a freelancer due to this factor. I think I would be easily distracted working from home, I think I would feeling quite isolated working from home all of the time, I would prefer to work within an agency as I think it could be a lonely working lifestyle as a freelancer.

Lee explained how he taught himself everything he knows. This is really inspiring. I want to learn new aspects of web design such as java script, I will do this as part of my personal development as well as other aims I want to achieve. I need to ensure I am disiplined and focus on achieving my goals both long and short term.

I also want to learn how to write proposals to a professional standard. Lee made it clear communication with clients was highly important and the approach must always be formal whether it be by email, phone call or written document. I might contact Lee through Twitter or email for advice on creating professional proposals.

I have had a look at Lee’s portfolio to see what kind of content he uses for his blog posts, the design and layout to see how he successfully presents himself to clients. I never know what to write on my blog however, this has helped me. His portfolio site is a simple wordpress template, I think this enables him to get the important content across to the user instead of burying it under a fussy design risking important information being over-looked. The content is quite informal creating a more personal feel.  I am going to take these aspects  into consideration when re-designing my portfolio.

Lee also talked about the importance of networking to build up contacts. To do this I need to attend events. He suggested where to look for up-coming events, I am going to look into these sources.

Thinking digital

I was meant to be attending a conference today at the Sage but have been unwell. I ‘m really annoyed I missed out on this event. I am going to ask other students what I missed out on to get an insight as to what it was about. I am going to look for up coming events I can attend to make up for missing out on this one.

Re-design progress

This week I have create a logo design, I have recieved feedback on this from Tim and asked friends their opinion. From this feedback I looked into different Fonts on Dafont.com.

I’m still unsure about the colour scheme and think it will push me back in the direction of my current site design. This is something I strongly want to avoid.

This task has only taken me a week so I am confident I have plenty of time left for other aspects of my re-design. I hope to have a design completed in about 3 weeks time.

dafont.com

Today I have had a look at several fonts I could use for my logo having recieved feedback from Tim yesterday. I have looked on www.dafont.com to experiement with various fonts. I have looked at many fonts and narrowed it down to the three below. My favourites are the two top fonts but I want to ask the opinion of my friends and family to determine my choice.

Filxgirl.TTF

riesling.ttf

Kingthings Xstitch.ttf

Feedback from Tim

I have asked Tim what he thinks of my logo design. He likes the concept behind it (my initials and the use of the @ symbol) however, he has suggested I look on the internet for different fonts. I am going to experiment with different fonts to see if I can improve my logo then asked my peers for feedback again. Tim has suggested a website I can use for font styles.