Portfolio Target Audience

Primary - Tutor

Steve is our course tutor and he will be assessing the portfolio. He is looking for a site that validates to XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS 2.1 and is creative enough to meet the course standard.

Steve is experienced at using websites and surfing the Internet. Both at home and at work he has a high speed Internet connection and is online frequently. To browse sites he uses his Apple MacBook and the latest version of Mozilla Firefox.

Websites Steve is likely to visit regularly include Apple's site, design related sites, typography related sites, other designer's blogs (he may follow some of these), social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, news sites, sport sites, gaming sites (particularly those related to console games such as Playstation), other technology related sites and 'lolcats'. Online purchases include Apple products, console games, other new technologies, design magazines and fonts.

Secondary - Clients and Potential Employers

Potential employers will most likely be experienced at using websites and surfing the Internet. They will also be likely to have high speed Internet connections both at work and at home and be online frequently. To browse sites they are likely to have the latest version of their chosen browser, which would probably be Mozilla Firefox as this is the most standards compliant.

They are likely to visit design related sites, typography related sites, other designer's blogs (they may follow some of these), social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, news sites and technology related sites. Online purchases include new technologies, design magazines and fonts.

Clients could be anyone from any business and their experience at using websites and surfing the Internet will vary. Their Internet connections will also vary as will the time they spend online. Tools for browsing sites will also vary, as will the sites they tend to visit. However, if they are looking for a web designer they are likely to view a number of portfolios to help them choose a designer they like.

Online purchases will vary.

Tertiary - Other Students

Students interested in my portfolio are likely to be other web design students looking for inspiration. They are likely to be experienced at using websites and surfing the Internet. They are also likely to have high speed Internet connections both at college/university and at home and be online frequently.

The websites they are likely to visit regularly include design related sites, typography related sites, other designer's blogs (they may follow some of these), social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, gaming sites (both console and online games), other web design student's portfolios and blogs, technology related sites, and possibly music and film related sites. Online purchases include new technologies, music, films and games.

Professional Designer's Portfolio Competitive Analysis

I have chosen to do my competitive analysis on Jay Hafling's portfolio.

The homepage is quite creative and informative. Jay's name is quite prominent, both at the top of the page in the sentence next to the search engine and just underneath that within an image, both of which also detail what he does. There is also an image with a brief sentence about him and a link inviting the user to read more, as well as a link to his Twitter, a section about the services he offers and a further section declaring him 'available for freelance' which is again quite prominent. The call to action to 'get in touch' with him doesn't particularly stand out in itself, but the eye is drawn to that section itself and within the paragraph it is clear this is a link as it is underlined and in a different colour.

There are also images of some of his work which can be clicked on to view a bigger image, and a link to view all works. The bottom half of the page has his latest blog posts and beneath that links for people to work their way through the blog archives, which seems to feature on every page. His name, the brief about section and the Twitter section also features on every page as a header, but on other pages it is clearly a separate element of the page while on the home page it blends in with the rest of the page. This is quite useful in allowing users to access these on every page, without having to go back to the homepage to get to his Twitter, etc.

Navigation is consistent, using the same navigational bar along the top of each page. Most links are functional and go to the right page, including those to external sites. There is just one external link in the footer which comes up with page not found. All pictures are clickable and allow the user to view a bigger image. External links are used where appropriate. There are no local links but the site doesn't really need any as most pages don't exceed more than two viewports, with the exception of the wordpress themes page which goes just over. There aren't any excessive amounts of scrolling however.

The site is well organised with the pages appearing in a logical order on the navigation bar. The grid layout of the site makes for easy reading and it keeps the pages compact to minimise whitespace on each page. It also splits up each page into clear sections which also aids readability.

Labels and headings are clearly laid out using larger, bold text and in some cases different colours. These are easy to understand, and immediately identify what each section is about. Subheadings are not required as there are no blocks of text which exceed more than three paragraphs and therefore do not need to be broken up. Links are informative and make it obvious what they are linking to.

Paragraphs are split into acceptable line lengths and the typeface is easy to read. However, much of the site uses white text on a darker background which isn't as easy to read as dark text on a lighter background. This doesn't detract from readability too much as there are no really big blocks of text, but if he were to add more textual content to the site in future it may become an issue. The only instance where the colour of text doesn't contrast with the background particularly well is his name and job title within the image in the header, which uses black text on a dark background. This does make it hard to read and could do with being changed to a lighter colour text to improve readability.

The site loaded quickly with each page loading within seconds. Some of the images did take longer to load however, perhaps about 30 seconds for some of them. Content is appropriate for the site and sufficient for its purpose, although there are some English errors. However, English is presumably not Jay's first language as he says he is from Ukraine and it is good enough to communicate the information to users.

The colour scheme is effective and uses colours that work well with each other. It is consistent throughout.

In summary I think the overall design of Jay Hafling's portfolio is good. It has sufficient content to serve its purpose, i.e. it showcases his work and gives information about himself and what he does, has clear and easy to follow navigation, logical organisation, it loads quickly, and is easy to read. It also allows potential clients to contact him which is important for a freelancer. The main improvement I would make would be to the image in the header with his name and job title, changing the contrast between text and background to make it easier to read.

Portfolio Competitive Analysis

I have chosen to do my competitive analysis on James Bell's portfolio.

The homepage has a brief welcome message which sums up the purpose of the site and a slideshow of featured work which makes the page more interesting and invites users to click the links and find out more (or click the pictures themselves to find our more about that particular project). It loads within seconds and sets the right tone for a site that is clearly a showcase for this student's work during his time on the HND in Interactive Media. There are, however, a couple of typographic errors which stand out and could do with being corrected to improve the overall impact of the homepage.

Navigation is consistent, using the same navigational bar along the top of each page. All links are functional and go to the right page, including those to external sites. All pictures are clickable and allow the user to learn more about each project. External links are used where appropriate. There are no local links but the site doesn't really need any as most pages don't exceed more than one viewport. The only page that does go over the foldline is the web work page, but as it only covers two viewports there isn't too much scrolling.

The site is well organised with the pages appearing in a logical order on the navigation bar. The basic layout of the site makes for easy reading and it keeps the pages compact to minimise whitespace on each page. However, there is a lot of whitespace surrounding some pages, particularly the about me page. Also, the information on this page is the same as that in the welcome message on the homepage. This makes the about me page seem a bit pointless, and to improve it I would either add more information to make the page bigger and eliminate some of the whitespace or remove it from the site.

Labels are clearly laid out in bold and are easy to understand, and headings and subheadings help break up the content and increase readability. Links are informative and make it obvious what they are linking to.

Paragraphs are split into acceptable line lengths and the typeface is easy to read. Dark text on a white background also increases readability.

The site loaded quickly with each page loading within seconds. Content is appropriate for the site and sufficient for its purpose, although there are some typographic errors.

The colour scheme is minimal but this aids readability and is in keeping with the logo in the header. It is consistent throughout.

In summary I think the overall design of James Bell's portfolio is good. It has sufficient content to serve its purpose, i.e. it showcases his work and gives information about each project, clear and easy to follow navigation, logical organisation, it loads quickly, and is easy to read. However, it could be improved by correcting the typographic errors and adding to the about me page thus reducing whitespace. Otherwise I would remove this page as mentioned above, as it performs no real purpose because it gives the same information about the student as that on the homepage.

Stress Free

The second year is well underway and so far I’ve found it a lot less stressful than the first. I’ve passed the first two assignments which is a relief, particularly as I was worried about the SMLP and having to learn a scripting language on my own. I’ve also met deadlines without having to stay up half the night to get everything done which is an improvement on last time round.

I’m currently working on A10 which is all about the reverse design process (designing for an unknown product) and A11 which is about Wordpress.

As with the SMLP, I had doubts about A10 as my creativity is often lacking and thought I’d struggle to fill page after page with designs. However this has not been the case. While there have been some dry spells, I’ve successfully managed to produce some 20 pages of varied ideas which should be ample to choose from when we’re given a product. I handed this in a week early as I will be away for two weeks and miss the official deadline, but even with doing the extra work to make up for missing a week I didn’t find this exercise nearly as stressful as I thought I might.

A11 is also going fairly well so far. I’ve just about got the basic structure of my site and now all I need is to get my head round templates and such in Wordpress. I’ll be concentrating more on A11 this week as I devoted last week to A10 and I’m confident I can pull ahead with this as well to give myself less work to do when I come back.

So in summary the second year seems to be running a lot smoother for me than the first and hopefully this will continue throughout.

Interview Questions

1. Do you work better on your own or in a group?

Most web design jobs that I have looked at require the candidate to work with their existing design team. Employers will be looking for candidates with good people skills who work well with others. Even if there is no group work as such, they will need to deal with people at some point. The answer to this question should give an indication as to whether they are good with people or not.

2. How do you feel about accessibility, is it something you strive for in your work?

Websites need to be accessible so that everyone can view them, regardless of any disabilities. Clients should be looking for this as it gains them more custom and so candidates who are not interested in making accessible sites or have no knowledge on the subject are not desirable.

3. List 3 ways to make content more accessible to visually impaired users

The candidate needs to know how to make websites more accessible as well as the importance of this. In answering the previous question they could also be making out they create websites with accessibility in mind but in reality they don’t give it much thought. If they can answer this question correctly it proves they do care about accessibility.

4. How do you spend your spare time?

Employers will be looking for candidates who keep up to date on the latest technologies within the industry. Candidates should spend some of their spare time researching new technology. The answer to this question should also give an insight into how interested the candidate is in the industry.

5. Tell me some news relating to the industry, such as a new version of CSS and what it’s features are going to be.

As with the above question, web designers need to keep up to date. This would show the employer that the candidate does keep up to date, regardless of how they answered the previous question because as with accessibility, they could just be telling the interviewer what they want to hear. Answering this correctly proves they do actually keep up to date.

6. Which browser would you design for?

A website’s no good if it doesn’t display or function properly across browsers. The candidate should know this and how to fix problems in other browsers.

7. Do you validate your XHTML and CSS? Why is this important?

The candidate should be used to validating their code and should know why this is important. Employers will be looking for candidates who can produce valid code.

8. How would your friends describe you?

This should give an insight into the candidate’s personality and if they do need to fit in with a current design team, it should give the employer a feel for if they will actually fit in or not. And as with the group question, it should also give an insight into whether the candidate is good with people or not.

SMLP Grade

I feel I have achieved a Pass for the SMLP as I did everything I said I would do when writing my own Pass criteria.

My first learning objective was to investigate the uses of PHP and MySQL in the interactive media industry and to do this I said I would contact people in the industry and provide evidence of a forum thread discussing the uses and/or evidence of emails. I didn't send out any emails in the end which I could have done for a higher mark but I did start a forum thread and send out PM's asking people to contribute, thus meeting the objective.

The second learning objective was to learn how to put PHP and MySQL into practice to fulfil a simple interactive media brief. To do this I said I would use my resources and record evidence skills I learnt every week in a blog. I set up a separate blog for the SMLP and posted weekly updates on the skills I had covered in online tutorials and from reading my book, thereby meeting this criteria.

I said I would use these new skills to build a simple website that meets the creative brief I would be writing for the third learning objective, which was to fulfil the requirements of a simple interactive media brief using PHP and MySQL. The creative brief I wrote was for a fictitious local business selling pet products. They wanted a website to generate more custom but wanted this to be kept small as they couldn't afford a huge commerce site. They also wanted orders placed through an order form rather than a shopping cart.

Therefore I designed a website with only 5 pages to keep it small which covered a pet's basic needs. To keep it small I kept the current number of products to a minimum but the client would be able to add to these if the business grew.

In the brief I also said the site should use standards compliant XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS 2.1 which it did. I also said it should use PHP 5.3.0 and MySQL 5.4 which it also did.

The website is fully functional and displays correctly across browsers. The form sends orders to the MySQL database I set up, and thus again meets the criteria.

For the final learning objective I said I would evaluate use of the self-managed learning plan and the final product. To do this I said I would write bi-weekly evaluative journal posts of around 250-300 words and a summative journal post of 1000 words at the end of the project. I only wrote one evaluative journal post but this was 2 weeks into the project, and 2 weeks later was the week of submission so I wrote the summative journal post. This still met the objective I had set myself, and as no real problems arose during the SMLP I don't think there was any need for any more than this. The two evaluative posts I wrote were indepth and gave a clear indication of how I progressed through the SMLP. So again this met the Pass criteria I set myself.

I don't feel I met all the extended criteria. For M1 'relevant theories and techniques have been applied' which 'you demonstrate a thorough understanding of the assignment's theoretical principles, and successfully apply them to your work'. I said in my SMLP the first learning objective would cover this, but as I only got 2 replies on the forum thread and I never emailed any other people in industry outside the forum I don't feel this is of a Merit standard.

M2 states that the 'appropriate structure and approach has been used'. To do this 'effectively use a range of devices that monitor progress of the assignment'. I think I did meet this criteria through my journal posts and the timesheet I devised to show the time I put into it.

The website would be used to assess M3 - 'complex problems with more than one variable have been explored'. The website was not particuarly complex and therefore not of Merit standard. Furthermore, M3 states 'your investigations into the creative and/or technical potential of the assignment produce near-professional solutions'. I don't feel the website was creative enough to meet the Merit criteria.

D1 would be covered by the summative journal post, although I don't feel I 'clearly' identified 'strengths and weaknesses' this time round.

I feel I did meet D2 as this states 'autonomy/independance has been demonstrated' which it was since I learnt PHP without any help, proven through the weekly blog posts that show the new skills learnt each week.

And finally D3 states that 'innovation and creative thought has been applied'. Since I don't feel the creativity was of a Merit standard, it certainly isn't to a Distinction.

In summary, I did everything I said I would do in the SMLP and I feel I did this to a Pass level so I have awarded myself a Pass.

Preparation for Employment

Job Title: WEB DESIGNER LEPFTS/132949
Location: MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE
Hours: 5 DAYS 9AM - 5:30PM
Wage: £14,000 - £16,000 PER ANNUM
Work Pattern: Days
Closing Date: 12/10/2009
Pension: No details held
Duration: PERMANENT ONLY

Description

The position is ideal for a University graduate looking to kick start their career in web design with opportunities of working their way up within the company. We are seeking an enthusiastic,motivated,creative hard working individual to work with our current design team. The role will include the day to day management, maintenance & design of our ever expanding portfolio of web sites and involvement in our email marketing program. Experience using Adobe Photoshop & Dreamweaver are a must along with XHTML & CSS. Knowledge of Flash would be an advantage. No work experience necessary but strong knowledge of the above applications a must.

Original advert can be found on: jobcentreplus.co.uk

I have chosen this job advert because it is one I feel I could apply for upon finishing the HND. No prior experience in the industry is required (something that I noticed a lot of employers wanted) making it ideal for someone just coming out of education.

The only experience desired is with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, XHTML and CSS, all of which I have used throughout this course. Knowldege of Flash is considered an advantage for this particular role but is not listed as essential, and I have used Flash on a previous course so it would not be completely new to me.

I have had some problems with XHTML and CSS whilst on this course, but I feel I’ve already improved and my skill as a coder would now be sufficient for this job.

Other skills they list are enthusiastic, motivated, creative and hard working, all of which I believe apply to myself. As I’ve said before, I do need to work on my creativity when it comes to designing (as I believe my creative talents lie more in writing) but in spite of this I still feel that I am a creative individual, and with time I can bring this out visually as well as through my creative writing.

If I were to apply for a job such as this after the course, I would mostly concentrate on my creativity in preparation. I think the other skills they list have always applied to me, and the practical skills I have learnt through the course.

In terms of my creativity, I think to improve I need to be looking for more inspiration, enabling me to produce more creative designs and build up a better portfolio to show to employers.

The advert also states that I would be working with their current design team. While I may not come across as very sociable at college, this is down to some things going on in my personal life at present. However, I feel it would not be a problem when I am ready to go into the working world.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t find it particularly difficult to work as part of a team, and my time management (in terms of meeting deadlines) is excellent meaning I would not let the team down and would be quite capable of sharing the workload. I also think I have good people skills which have been improved through my part-time job as a checkout operator at Asda, where I have been nominated for the ‘Above and Beyond the Call of Duty’ (ABCD) award on several occassions for good and friendly service.

If I improve on my creativity I think I’d stand a good chance of getting this job.

Therefore, to summarise, I will work on improving my creativity to a more professional standard by looking for more inspiration in preparation for employment in a similar role. I will also ensure my skills at XHTML and CSS are also of a professional standard through lots more practice.