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!