For our last class yesterday we got a guided tour of Hudl. I learned that they are technically a software company at heart and we got to tour their offices down in the Haymarket. It was really cool to see such a successful company at work, and their building was full of really cool rooms and software. I think I was most impressed with their work environment because it inspires creativity, play, and collaboration. The only thing I wish I could have heard more about is what projects they have their graphic designers working on and in depth examples of the work that they have done.
Kelly Kretchmer
Today was another work day in class. I feel like I made a lot of progress on my portfolio but as a result my webpage has fallen on the back-burner. I could definitely do more to it. However with the end of the year sneaking up and all sorts of projects I am running out of time to do all the things I want. At the very least I am really happy with how cohesive my online portfolio is starting to look. I can’t wait to get it totally done and show it to potential employers.
Today in class was a work day. I worked a lot on my online portfolio and had a lot of fun personalizing it. I think it is starting to reflect my design taste which is really exciting since my old free theme allowed almost no customization. I’ve spent a lot of time getting it to where it is today so it was nice to already have some portfolio items photographed and uploaded so that I could really focus on the details such as text, type, and page setup.
In class today we purchased our wordpress themes. I am so excited to finally have a theme that I love, but it was terrifying to purchase the theme without knowing 100% what you are getting in to. Thankfully my theme is really straight forward and very easily customizable. Still, I am really glad we installed them in class because I wouldn’t have known about some of the nuances such as making sure a random person doesn’t have access to your website, and I wouldn’t have known that there was an html how to guide with my theme. In the end I am really excited to bring my website to life with this theme and I can’t wait to get everything uploaded and customized!
Today in class we looked at premium WordPress themes on theme forest. I was really excited to look at themes because I have had an online portfolio for a while but I am using a crappy free theme on it, and it’s been really frustrating to work with. I was too afraid in the past to purchase a theme because it is so expensive and I was worried I wouldn’t install it correctly so I’m glad we will get themes as a class. I found several themes I really love today and I know I am looking for one with a masonry style for my portfolio page. I like the masonry look because it doesn’t feel so static and also because it can be really simple allowing the focus to be on the images.
I am continuing to work on my animation webpage and I am getting very frustrated with some of the buttons in my layout. I may have to shift my design because from what I’ve read online you have to use Javascript to get the proper float, and I’m not sure how to do Javascript. I am hoping that at the end of the day my design will still make sense with the design changes that I will likely make.
Today in class we reviewed what everyone had for their animations so far. It was cool to see the progress we had all made and it was helpful for generating ideas for my project. I am getting nervous about how my fluid my animations will look considering that they are makeup images moving. I played around a bit more in class today but I’m not sure what direction to continue in.
Today in class Colleen went over animated gifs and she did an example in photoshop. I didn’t find this very helpful as I am coding my website, and I am unsure if I will use an actual gif. Also I have already done projects making gifs so I already know how, but I’m sure it was helpful to others in the class. If I do end up making a gif I think I will consider using After Effects as well as Photoshop but I’m not sure yet. Hopefully I can finish up my basic coding so that I can move on to the animation.
In class today we were told we had several options for progressing our animation projects. We could either code our designs or we could make a Behance page that used several gifs to show the intended animation of our webpage. I think now that I have a really clear idea of what I want the project will go smoothly. I think it also will go a lot smoother than previous projects because I now have the basic foundations for coding a webpage down. The only part I see myself struggling with is the animation, but I hope that through using tutorials I will get it to work.
We had a critique in class today for our story designs. I enjoyed seeing everyones designs because the assignment was so broadly interpreted. The crit was helpful to me because I got good advice on my typeface choices and how to match them better to my look & feel. It was also very helpful to view my design printed out with a fresh perspective. Hopefully I can make some changes to the design with compromising my original ideas too much.