Website Design One

Post Your Portfolio Website Link Here

Use the comment form to leave me a link to your portfolio website. Be sure to do this by the end of the day today, April 30th.

Lynda.com Tutorial: HTML5 First Look due 01.30

This semester we are going to focus on using HTML5 to markup our website content. Since we only have 4 hours of class each week and we only meet for 15 weeks, there isn’t enough time to cover the technical and visual aspects of web design to full mastery.

To help get a jump on the HTML/CSS learning curve you will be responsible for watching the tutorial titled HTML5 First Look by James Williamson by 01.30.12. I could be mean and actually give you a test on the content in class, but hopefully I wont have to do that. However, if I find that you didn’t do this homework, I’ll start doing very dry and boring tests.

Remember Lynda.com tutorials are free to all Columbia students. To access the tutorials log into oasis and look for the tab titled “training” and click. Then look for the Lynda.com link. You can access the tutorials from home or the computer labs.

Signup for Web hosting before 01.30

Step One:
(Paid): Sign up for a hosting account at BlueHost. This is where you will store all your files that are attached to the domain name. There are a lot of pay web hosting services out there such as GoDaddy, DreamHost, etc., but BlueHost gives you everything you need, a Linux server with PhP and MySQL support, and an email address with your domain name. As part of signing up for hosting at BlueHost you get to register a domain name for free (see Step Two) and they have special student pricing. $60 for one year or $100 for two years (paid in full, not month to month billing, sorry).

For ease of in class demonstration, please sign up for a BlueHost account ONLY!


Step Two:
Pick and register a domain name, www.yourname.com, etc., the domain name you choose is up to you but try and pick something professional. A dot com or dot info address will cost about $10 a year, but it’s free since you are paying for hosting.

You will be using this domain to host the projects you work on in class and host your own portfolio web site. If you plan to show anyone who might want to hire you the work hosted on this domain name you don’t want to come across as unprofessional. So I’d suggest keeping the name simple, maybe just use your name.


Step Three:
Submit a comment with a link to your domain/url to this post. Make sure you include either you name or loop email so I know who’s domain name is who’s! You need to do this before January 31st.

Project One: Personal Web Overview

Overview:

It’s no longer acceptable in today’s economy to be a graphic designer without your own website, or the knowledge of how to build one. I’m not talking about using free services such as Columbia’s online portfolio, Carbonmade, Behance, or free content management systems such as Index Exhibit and CMS Made Easy. These sites are OK while you are learning and still in school, but the designers of tomorrow are EXPECTED to be able to handle print (illustration too), web and motion design seamlessly and not rely on someone else’s work. To help prepare you for what’s expected of you, for the first project, you will be designing your own portfolio website.

Website Requirements:

Your portfolio website will need to have the following elements:

  • Landing/Splash Page
  • Biography or About Page*
  • HTML/CSS styled Resume*
  • Contact Information*
  • 5 pieces, MINIMUM, of your work with case studies. This will potentially be two pages, a gallery view with tumbnails linking to a second details page.

*Some of these can be incorporated into your landing/splash page.
All of this will need to be fully functional and uploaded/live on the web.

Project Timeline

The final critique will be on Monday March 12th.

  • Week One: Sign up for hosting & Typekit account. Thumbnail comps of your three/four pages.
  • Week Two: Computer comps of your three/four pages. In progress critique.
  • Week Three: Begin HTML markup.
  • Week Four: CSS Layout.
  • Week Five: CSS Styling
  • Week Six: Bio/Resume/Contact elements due uploaded.
  • Week Seven: Single Page View of a piece of work due uploaded.
  • Week Eight: Final Critique of live site.

Helpful Hints

Some things to think about as you decide what to put on your portfolio site.

  • Don’t be gimmicky. Remember, it’s excepted that you know HTML/CSS so don’t do anything fancy to show off your skills. You’ll end up looking like a show off, not a considerate colleague.
  • Resist the urge to put every single piece of work you have on your site. Save some work to wow them during the interview process. Remember, your website only gets your foot in the door.
  • If you do decide to add a blog/news page, don’t forget that this will be read by potential employers. So don’t complain about something or someone and keep the topics related to design or what makes you a good designer. An employer doesn’t need to know about your My Little Pony collection.
  • Don’t outsmart yourself. Yes, designing a cool looking navigation system that bucks the current standards may seem like a good idea, but unless you execute flawlessly, you will end up with a site unreadable/unusable by a potential employer.
  • Have fun. If the prospect of creating a website to showcase your work to amazing design firms doesn’t excite you, you might be a robot, and may want to reconsider why you are designing in the first place.

Here are some examples to get you thinking.

Jessica Hische
Mig Reyes
Jennifer Sisson