Welcome To The Gallery: Developing My Web Portfolio

Week 10:

My goodness, there are a lot of different ways to design a web portfolio!   In chapter 10 of DDP the idea of using a metaphor as a design basis for a web portfolio is discussed.  There are so many to choose from, such as "Narrative", "Diary", and "Experience", but I can only pick one, right?  I have to keep in mind my time limitations and when I need to get everything done by, so with this in mind I think that the most efficient approach to my web portfolio is going to be the creating it using a gallery metaphor.  

The gallery metaphor calls for the main emphasis to be on the image itself.  Since this is a portfolio site, I do want the most attention to given to my work, which is one reason why I think that this is the best metaphor for what I want to do with my site.  Also, I think that a gallery site will also be the simplest to make (let's hope that I'm right on this!) because the interface itself will be understated.    

You know what? I kind of like the idea of having a gallery of my own work...even if it is a virtual one. I know that the work to get it done seems like a lot now, but I also know that when I am able to tell people my web address (and actually have something on it) I am going to feel like a real designer and not just some kid playing grown up.

Putting It All Together

Week 9:

I find that I am often better at planning events than seeing that they happen. This might say something about my personality or it may say something about how I was raised...either way, I don't want to stay this way forever. I would like to be able to creatively make plans and then follow through with them. This is why I believe that I will look back on my IDD 480 class with great gratitude-because it challenged me to plan creatively and because of grading (and since it's kind of important that I graduate) I had to follow through with my plans.

This week I learned a great deal about putting all of my work into an interactive portfolio. I have been collecting work for my portfolio over the past month or so and doing my best to weed out the good, the bad, and the unimpressive. Now I am working on making the work that I have chosen to use look the best that it can. I have a bunch of cartoons and hand drawn illustrations that look nice in person, but once I scanned them in, look a little nightmarish! I did not realize that scanners could pick up eraser lines as well as they apparently can. To make these piece of work look their absolute best, I have been going over the eraser lines in Photoshop and cleaning up any rough edges. I have been pleased with the results so far, but it does take some times. Oh well, I guess it takes work to get work...

Creating the design for my interactive portfolio also involves a good deal of planning. I swear, I can procrastinate like no tomorrow (I think that I am actually somewhat notorious for it around the Quinnipiac campus) and doing so for my portfolio interface was no exception. But...I have finally started to get my act together (sort of) and am just about prepared to make my portfolio interface a real live website. Now the trick will be getting myself in gear and keeping myself on a schedule!

Portfoli-Ohhhh..!

Week 8:

I bought my first portfolio as a hopeful high school junior in order to attend an portfolio review to be accepted in to art school. I chocked it full of cartoons and whatever else I thought might be classified as "art" and heading down to New York with my dad. Oh, if I had only known then what I know now about portfolios! Until just recently I thought that a portfolio was more than a mishmash of work thrown into a file-like contraption. I had never imagined or known a portfolio to be anything more because I had never spent any time investigating the topic.  Fortunately, IDD 480 has changed all that.  I am not in the midst of learning about and creating my own portfolio...one digital and one in print.

I have been sketching a few design ideas for my print portfolio (well, the case at least) and I think that I am going to go with a cereal box theme.  I will design a cereal box with a graphic design theme.  I am thinking of calling it "Creative Crunch" and putting things like "creativity" and "attention to detail" under the nutrition facts.  

I need to do some optimizing of my work for my online portfolio as well as for a PDF of some of my work to send out to potential employers.  I have my resume all made and in PDF format, but I still have to add on these samples of my work as a way to hopefully entice someone to hire me!  I'm planning on going out to buy a box that I can use as my portfolio and decoupage my cereal box design to in the next week or so.  This is getting exciting!

Resu-ME?

Week 7:

I first heard about something called a resume from my mother. She had recently ended one job and printed out resumes to bring on job interviews as she searched for another. I can still feel the texture of the thick ivory colored paper she printed hers on and feeling like it would be a million years before I would have to create a resume of my own.

It's hard to believe that I am at the point where I need to create a resume. Yet, here I am. For IDD 480 we are required to create a resume...Not just any resume, but the resume of a graphic designer. After reading Building Design Portfolios I have gained some valuable information on creating a design resume. It excites me to know that a graphic designer's resume can have design aspects. I liked that the book showed two resumes by the same person. One was very plain and the other very much reflective of the individuals skills as a designer. I'm just so happy that my resume doesn't have to be words alone and that it can have aspects of design as well!

The reading also had a lot of great insight into the interview process and job hunt. It also gave me some great ideas for promotional material to leave behind with employers. I am thinking of creating a "leave-behind" that will be a flip book of some of my work. On one side of the flip book with be my work and when it's turned over it will have a little stick figure doing something...I haven't decided what yet.

Overall, I am pretty excited to have the opportunity to "wrap up", in some sense, my work from the past four years and present it to the real world. I'm eager to get out there and flex my creative muscle!

The Portfolio-Work Relationship: W.A.W.A.

Week 6:

The W.A.W.A. (pronounced wah-wah) or "What Are We About" conversation is one that two individuals have about the status of their relationship. Although the conversation typically relates to romantic relationships, for the sake of IDD, I will be using it to help myself better understand the relationship of an artist's portfolio to their work that they put in it.

Building Design Portfolios had a lot of wonderful things to say about portfolios and presenting work. I hadn't really considered the idea of the way my work would be presented to possible employers outside of the work itself prior to reading for this week. Having read, it surprises me that I hadn't considered the portfolio itself as part of the presentation for my work. I have a portfolio at home, which I thought was pretty sophisticated at one point. I considered it's black leather textured plastic exterior pretty darn classy when I first purchased it back in high school. I now realize that I'm going to have to step it up a little if I want to impress possible employers.

I am actually very excited to know that I can be creative in all aspects of my portfolio, not just in my work itself! It makes me happy to know that I can not only try to impress future employers with my work, but also with the way it is presented. This book also had some great tips about what type of work to display in my portfolio. One of the many helpful tips I have learned in IDD480 is that there needs to be a design process. A design cannot simply be made in one draft...rather, sketches and comps should be created and the design itself should be reworked until it is the best version of itself. Having learned this, I have begun sketching before designing and I plan to include these sketched in my portfolio because BDP notes more than once the importance of showing the potential employer the design process.

More of an Oscar than a Felix...

Week 5:

As the semester moves on it has become more and more undeniable that I will eventually need to find a job. Finding a job means many different things, one of which is getting organized...Now, I'm not talking about my sock drawer or alphabetizing my DVD collection... I am talking in terms of getting myself organized to seek out jobs. This means getting my resume ready as well as my portfolio site.

Chapter 5 of Designing a Digital Portfolio talks about getting a body of work organized for a digital portfolio. Although the current state of my bedroom may make me seem like Oscar from The Odd Couple I can somewhat boldly say that my Macintosh desktop at school is closer to something that Felix Unger would produce. I had a bad run-in with synchronizations in the beginning of my junior year during which I lost all of my freshmen and sophomore year IDD work...a loss that still haunts me to this day. The only way to keep me from dwelling on the loss of this work is to remind myself that a.) I printed copies of most of it and b.) most of it was pretty crappy compared to the level of work that I can do today (I will probably look back at my current work in a few years and think b.) again...hopefully I won't have to use this as a way to comfort myself from another synchronization loss).

This chapter made me realize that I definitely need to go back over my work and micro-organize it with file names that are understandable to anyone...not just myself. I realize now that I can no longer name files after powerhouse women sitcom stars like "MaryTylerMoore.jpg" or famous cartoon dogs such as "ScoobyDoo.pdf"...sadly, those days are over. I have entered into a new, more comprehensible era of file saving and although I will miss the days when my files were primarily only MY files I am excited to venture into a world that will require me to share my work with other like-minded designers.

Design is fine, but I'm feeling weary...

Week 4:

It's the fifth week of classes and my final year of college. With graduation fast approaching, it's getting harder and harder to keep myself focused on doing quality work now rather than putting all of my energy into worrying about and fearing the future. I am not usually one to worry for too long. Instead, I have bursts and short periods of worry that pass as soon as I give them permission to. When these periods of worry come over me I like to mentally play the song "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley or pray...which are both a better alternative to pulling out my hair. In regards to IDD 480, I have had a few of these period of worry when it comes to my logo design. The problem is that I don't love my logo as much as I think that I should, seeing as I will be spending a lot of time over the coming weeks with it.

Designing a Digital Portfolio has put so much emphasis on the designer's portfolio (as if this couldn't be determined from it's title...) so naturally, as a hopeful designer I want to put a lot of quality work into the portfolio that I design. I have learned a lot of great tips from this book, such as format and directional suggestions, but I still feel like all of this has to be built off of an overall website design. My fear is that since my logo is so specific right now (it's my name in alphabet refrigerator magnets) my portfolio will also have to be very specific. I want to make sure that I really like the overall design that I come up with for my website, but I am worried that I will not have time to get it just the way that I want it.

On a more positive note, I did learn a lot from chapter four of Designing a Digital Portfolio. I had originally thought that including a lot of my photography would be a good idea for my portfolio site, but after learning about duplicating, dividing, and doubling websites I feel a little differently. I think that the best thing for me to do now is have some photography on my portfolio site and considering doubling it to create another site that is just for photography. I think that I will most likely not create this second site this semester, but keep it in mind for the future in case I decide to one day pursue a career as a wedding photographer or Sears portrait center associate.

I really enjoy the interviews at the end of each chapter in How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul. They make me feel like it's okay that I don't know exactly where I am heading career-wise and reassured that if I continue to pursue my passion or art and design I will eventually find my way into a career that I love. I just hope that this "way finding" occurs sooner than later because I am starting to feel a little anxious!

Ready, Aim, Design!

Week 3:

It seems that a lot more goes into this whole "design thing" than I had imagined in the past. Even three months ago if asked what it took to get a job as a graphic designer I would have given a naive answer such as, "hard work and dedication to the craft!" and then smiled in hopes of changing the subject. Now I am beginning to understand something that I had possibly been in denial about prior to taking this course...entering the real world of graphic design is just something that happens to me. I have to make it happen!

I am happy to say that I am not alone in this journey that I will soon embark on. I am blessed with a class, my Interactive Digital Design portfolio class, that will most likely teach me more about real world graphic design than any of my other IDD courses have at Quinnipiac. I also have access to the advice and insight of countless graphic designers via the internet. This weeks reading in Designign a Digital Portfolio gave me the idea to check out graphic design forums on the internet. I thought that I might find a handful of outdated or incredibly professionally-termed blurbs about life as a graphic designer. You can then imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to find that more modern and understandable graphic design forums exist than I could possibly post on in a year. One that especially caught my eye because of it's recognizable title was the HOW Design forum. They even offer a forum especially for graphic design students! How amazing is that?!

I am also learning a lot about the ethics of graphic design through my readings. I personally enjoy being ethical as much as I can remember to be, so knowing that I will get to flex my ethical muscle as a graphic designer makes me pretty happy. I like the idea of always committing to a certain quality of work when working as a graphic designer as mentioned in chapter five of How To Be a Graphic Designer. In my opinion I believe that this not only shows clients that as a designer, I am committed to the quality of the work I do, but I also know myself well enough to know that I will get much more satisfaction when I look back at work I have done if I know that I did the best work that I possibly could at the time. I would like to develop a personal motto as a graphic designer. What it will be is soon TBD...

I love being free, but I'm not sure if I could ever be a freelancer...

Week 2:

Before I started IDD 480 three weeks ago I have to say that I was expecting just another IDD class. I say "just another" because after four years of sitting in Tator Hall 128 for hours at a time things can get repetitive and courses tend to blur...at least that's how I feel. Fortunately, this course has been proving to be very different than my IDD courses of the past. Aside from learning how to breath like a dragon in class, the readings for the course have been a pleasant and understandable surprise. Designing a Digital Portfolio has opened my eyes to the ways that a digital portfolio can speak to those who view it. In chapter two the book offered a few questions and answers for the reader to fill out to better understand what they want to express through their portfolio. I found the quiz helpful in assessing what I want my own soon-to-be created digital portfolio to express. I think that what I want my portfolio to do the most is reflect my personality while showing off some of my best work. I also learned from this chapter that the work I display doesn't necessarily have to be the work that I had the most fun creating I think that it will be a good discipline for myself to post in my portfolio some work that I personally find boring.

One thing that How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul brought to my attention in chapters three and four was the fact that I need to start thinking seriously about what type of graphic designer I want to someday be. I had heard about freelance graphic designer prior to reading these chapters, but sort of glamorized the idea of working at home without really taking into account all the responsibilities it takes to do so. These two chapters helped me realize that I may not be cut out to be a freelance graphic designer. I know myself well enough to know that I am not always the best at getting myself motivated to do work (check the time that I am writing this post and take into account the fact that it is due in less than six hours...). I think that I would be especially less motivated to do work if vices like television (I do enjoy a good morning talk show) and snacks around. I think that I would even be inspired to do housework in some circumstances rather than work work.

I also know that when I am not around people for long periods of time I tend to get a little strange. I do enjoy some time alone every day to reflect and think and just be, but I truly do enjoy company. I cannot imagine spending countless hours alone with my work with no one around but my cat to ask questions to or share little tidbits of life with. I want to experience the commute to work. I want to have a separate place to do work and to relax as much as I would want a separate place to cook and shower. I want to have a lunch break that's scheduled and have the chance to socialize over sandwiches at the local deli. I even want to deal with the sometimes difficult boss. I want coffee breaks and holiday parties and the whole nine yards. I want to be able to relate with films such as Working Girl and shows like The Office. I think you get the picture. Thanks to these two chapters I have stripped the glamorous layers off of my ideas of what it's like to be a freelance graphic designer and can now better place myself in a category of designer for the future!

Feeling: A Little Reassured...

Week 1:

So, prior to this semester I had a number of nervous breakdowns notched into my belt of mental health...most of which were in some way connected to the future and the fact that I will eventually leave behind my life as a student and step out into the so-called "real world". I have to say that both of the books we were assigned to start reading offer an abundance of useful and insightful information for the aspiring graphic designer.

Much like the author of chapter one of HBG, I often found myself noticing and copying graphic elements I had seen in the world. I did not discover the field of graphic design until I was the ripe age of 14 or 15 and did not know that it was something that I really and truly wanted to pursue as a career until my freshmen year of college... Since then I have always felt like it was what I should do after I graduate, but recently thoughts have been running through my mind..."Is this really what I want to do?", they say. "Maybe it's just not for you...maybe miming is the best alternative." I have to admit that I"m not always sure about my major and there are surely days when I would rather be anywhere else but the IDD lab, but overall I like what I do and I do what I like. It's just the days when I would like to do something other than graphic design that get me concerned about the future and usually result in those nervous breakdowns I mentioned earlier.

What both HBG and DDP have helped me to realize is that I do not have to have everything figured out right away. HBG has reassured me that graphic design is not just a cubicle job (a worry that was the cause of one of my recent breakdowns) and that graphic designers get to work with people on a daily basis...something that I very much enjoy doing! DDP has helped me to understand that the term "graphic designer" can mean a plethora of different things and that taking on the title does not mean losing all sense of self in the process.

When I first started this major I thought that I would become a 3D animator and be the person who made the movies I grew up loving come to life. Then I took IDD 302 and all that changed. It is from experience that I have grown to know more about my likes and dislikes and the type of graphic designer that I may like to become one day. From DDP's description of the various venues that the term graphic designer can dwell in I have decided that I am first off, a student or art. I enjoy 2D graphics in the photographical sense...and could be called a graphic artist of the illustrator influence. I'm definitely not an architect, but I would like to one day be able to afford a house with the income I receive as a designer. I may also one day like to be a graphic designer by title, which is more specific than being in the field of graphic design even though I would not know it had I not read chapter one of this book. Also, I do like videos, but I do not know if I would ever want to call myself a Videographer.

Chaper 1 of HBG reassured me the most out of both books. I was especially drawn to the author's experience with text as a young man as I mentioned earlier. This reminded me of a collection of designs and type faces that I started compiling around my sophomore year of college. I have always been influenced and inspired by other people's work. I can remember copying Garfield from the Sunday comics when I was a kid and then using the style of eyes that Jim Davis uses to create new characters of my own. I think this is how a lot of design is done. Although one design is the result of that designers work it is impossible to trace all of the influences that that designer drew from to create that one design. In this way I think that all designers are connected and that makes me happy.

Here's a list of websites that have recently inspired me in my graphic design endeavors...my wish is that they will do the same for you.

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Step Into The Bad Side

Here I am. It's the last semester of my college career and I'm ready to start taking it seriously...finally. I'm excited for what this semester holds and am looking forward to stepping out into the big bad world.