My Portfolio site has – as I perceive it – 2 main audiences:
1: Industry Professionals.
These will be my primary audience - the kind of people that I'll want to look at my site and say 'Hmm, I'd like to hire that guy'.
Profile:
Age: 30+
Gender: Unknown
Occupation: Senior Designer / Management
Online Experience: Vast - strong knowledge of web technologies and their use
Online Frequency: 8+ hours/day
Online Location: Work and home
Connectivity: High speed connection
Types of sites visited: Design sites/blogs, other portfolios, wide range of sites in industry research.
(Fictional) Specific Profile:
Paul is a Senior Designer at a design company based in Leeds. After putting an advert out for a Junior Designer role, he's received a wide range of CVs. Having looked through and whittled the candidates down, he's decided to take a look at the candidates online portfolios. Paul's looking for something that immediately strikes a chord with him - he doesn't have time to look through the sites thoroughly. He's also looking for something done professionally, without any errors in the content or the backend code - his experience tells him this is an important thing to look for.
2. Other Students
A lot of future students/other current students will be visiting my sites - just like I have visited the sites of those who have gone before.
Profile:
Age: Various
Gender: Mostly Male
Occupation: Student
Online Experience: Large - studying web design
Online Frequency: 8+ hours/day
Online Location: College and home
Connectivity: High speed connection
Types of sites visited: Design sites/blogs, other portfolios, wide range of sites in industry research
Specific Profile:
Jonny is a 20 year old, looking into studying web design. After visiting the new FdA web site, he's having a look through the work of previous students. He wants to see the kind of work he might be asked to do, as well as see the quality of the work completed on the course. This, he feels, is the most important apsect to a design course and he is looking to be impressed.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Saturday, 31 January 2009
Goals for my Portfolio
1. My portfolio will use standards compliant XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS 2.1.
This is something that I'd do with all websites created, however it's so important that I consider it to be my primary goal. It's important to use these technologies to ensure my site is as accessible as possible, as well as being able to make my site available in different contexts, such as print/mobile. This is measurable through using the W3C's online validation services.
2. Meet level A of the W3C Accessibility Guidelines
Accessibility is an important issue in web design. I believe my portfolio is a key place to show potential employers/clients that I care about accessibility and think about it when creating websites. The W3C guidelines are a great way to assess what I've created and determine whether it's accessible or not. This is an easily measurable goal - a process of sitting down and checking my site against the guidelines one-by-one.
3. Achieve high results in Search Engines.
In order to get my name out there as much as I possibly can, it's important to be high up on search engines. Hopefully this will assist in potential employers seeing my site, as well as showing employers that I have an understanding of search engine optimisation, and how beneficial this is. To measure this, I can regularly check a number of SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) to check where I am.
4. Create a portfolio that is easily updatable and flexible.
This is an important goal to ensure that I can amend my portfolio as needed for various situations. One job may require me to show different things than others. This will probably be done using a CMS in order to make updates easily. The only real way to measure this goal is to look at the site objectively and ask 'is this easily updatable?'.
This is something that I'd do with all websites created, however it's so important that I consider it to be my primary goal. It's important to use these technologies to ensure my site is as accessible as possible, as well as being able to make my site available in different contexts, such as print/mobile. This is measurable through using the W3C's online validation services.
2. Meet level A of the W3C Accessibility Guidelines
Accessibility is an important issue in web design. I believe my portfolio is a key place to show potential employers/clients that I care about accessibility and think about it when creating websites. The W3C guidelines are a great way to assess what I've created and determine whether it's accessible or not. This is an easily measurable goal - a process of sitting down and checking my site against the guidelines one-by-one.
3. Achieve high results in Search Engines.
In order to get my name out there as much as I possibly can, it's important to be high up on search engines. Hopefully this will assist in potential employers seeing my site, as well as showing employers that I have an understanding of search engine optimisation, and how beneficial this is. To measure this, I can regularly check a number of SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) to check where I am.
4. Create a portfolio that is easily updatable and flexible.
This is an important goal to ensure that I can amend my portfolio as needed for various situations. One job may require me to show different things than others. This will probably be done using a CMS in order to make updates easily. The only real way to measure this goal is to look at the site objectively and ask 'is this easily updatable?'.
Thursday, 22 January 2009
The Final Semester
Well, it's hard to believe, but we have now reached the final semester of the course. This, of course, means it's time to start thinking about what's next in life. An important part of this is also considering what I want from the last semester in order to maximise my employability.
I believe one of the most important aspects of the next few months is the SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan). I have chosen to learn PHP during this, as I feel this is the skill I most need at this stage to increase my employability. In some ways, I'm feeling slightly nervous about having to teach myself something and structuring it myself. However, I feel I've identified some pretty good resources to help me with this so I should be fine. I also appreciate the importance of learning PHP in the long term so it's going to be worth ay extra effort I have to put in to get it right.
I feel another major aspect of the coming semester is the creation of my portfolio. This is very important in encouraging future employment. I have mixed feelings about the process of doing this. Whilst I'm looking forward to having a more professional way of displaying my work, I'm fairly sure it's going to be something I struggle to get 'just right'. The fact that this is going to be the primary way of showing my college work is going to bring out the perfectionist within me.
I believe another key aspect of the coming semester is the final presentation. This will be an opportunity for me to assess what I've done over the past 2 years - where I came from, where I am now, what I've learnt, and what I haven't. It will also be a good way to further my presentation skills and experience of speaking in front of people.
Over the final semester I'm fairly sure the pressure of having a part-time job as well as ongoing college work may become more apparent. As such, I'm beginning to consider which other commitments I currently have can be sacrificed for a short time in order to maximise what I can get out of the time I have left on the course. I feel that college work needs to be put first for a few months, so I can fully appreciate the time and opportunity I have to further my knowledge.
In terms of employability, I feel I'm getting to a stage where I'd be comfortable putting myself out there for a variety of jobs. PHP is obviously what I've identified as a weak point in my knowledge, but on the whole I feel my skills for employment are almost there - a few tweaks here and there over the coming months and I believe I'll be confident enough. Working part time recently has definitely aided me in this, giving me a range of experience and opening my eyes to weaknesses I can try to combat over the next semester.
Word Count: 498
I believe one of the most important aspects of the next few months is the SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan). I have chosen to learn PHP during this, as I feel this is the skill I most need at this stage to increase my employability. In some ways, I'm feeling slightly nervous about having to teach myself something and structuring it myself. However, I feel I've identified some pretty good resources to help me with this so I should be fine. I also appreciate the importance of learning PHP in the long term so it's going to be worth ay extra effort I have to put in to get it right.
I feel another major aspect of the coming semester is the creation of my portfolio. This is very important in encouraging future employment. I have mixed feelings about the process of doing this. Whilst I'm looking forward to having a more professional way of displaying my work, I'm fairly sure it's going to be something I struggle to get 'just right'. The fact that this is going to be the primary way of showing my college work is going to bring out the perfectionist within me.
I believe another key aspect of the coming semester is the final presentation. This will be an opportunity for me to assess what I've done over the past 2 years - where I came from, where I am now, what I've learnt, and what I haven't. It will also be a good way to further my presentation skills and experience of speaking in front of people.
Over the final semester I'm fairly sure the pressure of having a part-time job as well as ongoing college work may become more apparent. As such, I'm beginning to consider which other commitments I currently have can be sacrificed for a short time in order to maximise what I can get out of the time I have left on the course. I feel that college work needs to be put first for a few months, so I can fully appreciate the time and opportunity I have to further my knowledge.
In terms of employability, I feel I'm getting to a stage where I'd be comfortable putting myself out there for a variety of jobs. PHP is obviously what I've identified as a weak point in my knowledge, but on the whole I feel my skills for employment are almost there - a few tweaks here and there over the coming months and I believe I'll be confident enough. Working part time recently has definitely aided me in this, giving me a range of experience and opening my eyes to weaknesses I can try to combat over the next semester.
Word Count: 498
Sunday, 11 January 2009
My SMLP Resources
I have identified a number of resources to aid me in learning PHP during the upcoming Self-Managed Learning Plan:
1. PHP for the World Wide Web (Visual QuickStart Guides)
A book for beginning and intermediate users with step-by-step instructions to teach the programming language.
2. Programming PHP
A book covering PHP essentials, basic web techniques, and an introduction to database access. Again, this book goes step-by-step through the language.
3. SAMs Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours
24 one hour lessons in PHP. This book is a "quick and easy way to learn how to create interactive websites for your end user."
4. Tizag.com PHP Tutorial
An introduction to the basics of PHP. Probably one of the first places I'll look whilst waiting for my delivery from Amazon.co.uk.
5. W3Schools.com PHP Tutorial
As with most things web-related, W3 Schools have a nice introductory tutorial. Whilst these are not always in-depth, they often provide a nice starting point.
6. Tutorialized
A large collection of links to many a tutorial on various sites. Quite a good resource, even if it does spell 'Tutorialised' with a 'z'.
7. PHP Freaks
PHP Freaks is a website with a few tutorials, as well as a large community. I'll use this to ask any questions I need answering (or as a database of ready-asked questions!)
8. Developer Tutorials
A collection of tutorials and articles to help those learning PHP.
9. Pixel2Life
A collection of PHP tutorials to assist in learning and show various 'how tos'.
10. The PHP Website
Probably the definitive resource for PHP knowledge - includes introductory information as well as the PHP manual.
1. PHP for the World Wide Web (Visual QuickStart Guides)
A book for beginning and intermediate users with step-by-step instructions to teach the programming language.
2. Programming PHP
A book covering PHP essentials, basic web techniques, and an introduction to database access. Again, this book goes step-by-step through the language.
3. SAMs Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours
24 one hour lessons in PHP. This book is a "quick and easy way to learn how to create interactive websites for your end user."
4. Tizag.com PHP Tutorial
An introduction to the basics of PHP. Probably one of the first places I'll look whilst waiting for my delivery from Amazon.co.uk.
5. W3Schools.com PHP Tutorial
As with most things web-related, W3 Schools have a nice introductory tutorial. Whilst these are not always in-depth, they often provide a nice starting point.
6. Tutorialized
A large collection of links to many a tutorial on various sites. Quite a good resource, even if it does spell 'Tutorialised' with a 'z'.
7. PHP Freaks
PHP Freaks is a website with a few tutorials, as well as a large community. I'll use this to ask any questions I need answering (or as a database of ready-asked questions!)
8. Developer Tutorials
A collection of tutorials and articles to help those learning PHP.
9. Pixel2Life
A collection of PHP tutorials to assist in learning and show various 'how tos'.
10. The PHP Website
Probably the definitive resource for PHP knowledge - includes introductory information as well as the PHP manual.
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan) Thoughts
Having checked a few job sites (such as Creative Pool and The Drum) recently, I've become increasingly aware that a key skill required for industry which I don't have is an understanding of PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor 5. This has also become clear when working with a CMS (Content Management System) on a recent project. An understanding of PHP will enable me to develop and customise web applications when needed. This could prove crucial in future employment.
It is also apparent from job advertisements, as well as some limited experience with the web design industry (e.g. through my brother-in-law, Paul), that employees/freelance workers are expected to have to massive range of skills. They are expected to be able to design, build and develop websites, not just specialise in one area. I feel that I need to continue my study into the development side of things beyond what I'm comfortable with currently (XHTML & CSS).
PHP is a massively popular scripting language and it has the power to open up opportunities to create a myriad of web applications (Hotscripts has many examples). These are the kinds of things that at the current time I have no idea how to create. I also feel that websites are increasingly adopting PHP scripts in order to bring a bit of interactivity to the site - and at the moment I feel I simply can't compete with this. In order to combat my lack of knowledge, undertaking the study of PHP in the SMLP seems a smart thing to do.
Whilst I had considered developing other skills, including Javascript and Ruby On Rails, I decided against this as I feel Javascript is becoming less relevant online, and that PHP is a better starting point than Ruby is. This, however, is something I will be very interested in for the future.
It is also apparent from job advertisements, as well as some limited experience with the web design industry (e.g. through my brother-in-law, Paul), that employees/freelance workers are expected to have to massive range of skills. They are expected to be able to design, build and develop websites, not just specialise in one area. I feel that I need to continue my study into the development side of things beyond what I'm comfortable with currently (XHTML & CSS).
PHP is a massively popular scripting language and it has the power to open up opportunities to create a myriad of web applications (Hotscripts has many examples). These are the kinds of things that at the current time I have no idea how to create. I also feel that websites are increasingly adopting PHP scripts in order to bring a bit of interactivity to the site - and at the moment I feel I simply can't compete with this. In order to combat my lack of knowledge, undertaking the study of PHP in the SMLP seems a smart thing to do.
Whilst I had considered developing other skills, including Javascript and Ruby On Rails, I decided against this as I feel Javascript is becoming less relevant online, and that PHP is a better starting point than Ruby is. This, however, is something I will be very interested in for the future.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
2nd Year So Far...
So far this year has proved to be very different from the first year. In many way, this has it's foundation in the different kind of assignments we've done so far this year.
Coming back into the second year, it was very much as though we were going straight back in at the deep end. The 'A11 - On The Job' assignment, which involves working as a 4-person team to deliver an interactive media product to a client, has proved to be most challenging thus far. Working as Project Manager has proved to be extremely arduous, yet very rewarding. I feel that as a team we have taken time to truly pass through the stages of 'Forming', 'Storming' and 'Norming', but I feel we are beginning to reach a stage somewhere near 'Performing'. This has not been without troubles and a lot of effort, but at the end of the day I'm now pretty happy with the team I've got around me.
The 'On The Job' assignment isn't like anything I've done before. I've had to learn a lot of new things, and change the way I approach workflow to suit my team, which has been hard. As I've said though, it's been a massively rewarding experience and I've learnt a lot about organisation, working with others, people management... the list is endless.
We've also completed the 'A9 - Outside the Box' assignment this year, which was focused on XHTML and CSS. After a first year which included very little CSS, I was glad to be finally getting stuck into it. I've learnt a huge amount through this assignment, both through lectures and extended research and reading. This includes the methodology behind structuring XHTML and CSS, the syntax/semantics used in Standards Compliant web documents, and I've also brushed up on the use of naming conventions in web documents. I now feel in a much stronger position to be writing standardised, well structured and well formatted web documents, and would now be more confident doing so in a professional environment.
Through 'Outside the Box', I have developed a better understanding of why standardisation and the correct use of XHTML/CSS is important. This put the rest of my learning in the unit into perspective and helped me appreciate the value of what I'd been studying.
We have also begun work on the 'A12 - Culture Vulture' assignment, which is again like nothing done before. Having completed the presentation aspect of the assignment and in effect getting that out of the way, we've moved on to a 'reverse design process'. This basically entails designing before you know what you're designing for. In all honesty, I've been struggling so far with this - I'd maybe even go so far as to say it's the hardest thing on the course so far. I'm fairly sure I'll come up with that killer concept at some point... but at the moment I can only hope it's before we have to apply a design to whatever it is we're designing for!
Word Count: 499
Coming back into the second year, it was very much as though we were going straight back in at the deep end. The 'A11 - On The Job' assignment, which involves working as a 4-person team to deliver an interactive media product to a client, has proved to be most challenging thus far. Working as Project Manager has proved to be extremely arduous, yet very rewarding. I feel that as a team we have taken time to truly pass through the stages of 'Forming', 'Storming' and 'Norming', but I feel we are beginning to reach a stage somewhere near 'Performing'. This has not been without troubles and a lot of effort, but at the end of the day I'm now pretty happy with the team I've got around me.
The 'On The Job' assignment isn't like anything I've done before. I've had to learn a lot of new things, and change the way I approach workflow to suit my team, which has been hard. As I've said though, it's been a massively rewarding experience and I've learnt a lot about organisation, working with others, people management... the list is endless.
We've also completed the 'A9 - Outside the Box' assignment this year, which was focused on XHTML and CSS. After a first year which included very little CSS, I was glad to be finally getting stuck into it. I've learnt a huge amount through this assignment, both through lectures and extended research and reading. This includes the methodology behind structuring XHTML and CSS, the syntax/semantics used in Standards Compliant web documents, and I've also brushed up on the use of naming conventions in web documents. I now feel in a much stronger position to be writing standardised, well structured and well formatted web documents, and would now be more confident doing so in a professional environment.
Through 'Outside the Box', I have developed a better understanding of why standardisation and the correct use of XHTML/CSS is important. This put the rest of my learning in the unit into perspective and helped me appreciate the value of what I'd been studying.
We have also begun work on the 'A12 - Culture Vulture' assignment, which is again like nothing done before. Having completed the presentation aspect of the assignment and in effect getting that out of the way, we've moved on to a 'reverse design process'. This basically entails designing before you know what you're designing for. In all honesty, I've been struggling so far with this - I'd maybe even go so far as to say it's the hardest thing on the course so far. I'm fairly sure I'll come up with that killer concept at some point... but at the moment I can only hope it's before we have to apply a design to whatever it is we're designing for!
Word Count: 499
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Soft Skills
Soft skills cover a variety of issues, and include a range of both personal and interpersonal qualities. I am of the opinion that soft skills are often undervalued, and this is an unfortunate situation. Many soft skills are considered transferable, as they are not industry specific and carry between careers/sectors.
Below are what I consider to be some of the more important soft skills I've been developing over the last year:
Time Management
Coming to this course I had no hope of managing my time successfully. I'd never really needed to before. However, the stresses and strains of a bigger workload and juggling this with other commitments had made me need to develop my time management skills. I now feel so much more confident with my self-management.
Personal Development/Reflective Work
I feel I now have a much greater ability to be self-critical, analysing my weak (and strong) points, and working out a way forward. This has helped me to move on over the past year, and develop new skills as I've needed them.
Ability to Transmit Energy, Enthusiasm & Confidence
Steve recently mentioned this one on a thread on Das Forum. It struck me that this is something I've improved on. Believe it or not, I used to be pretty nervous about showing any of my work to anyone, and I used to hate having to ask for help in shops, using the phone, etc. Now I don't have a problem with this as much. I've developed a new confidence, and I hope I can begin to show this through the way I act during presentations and pitches (hopefully I don't touch myself as much anymore!)
I also feel I have a variety of other soft skills, but that the above are the ones I've worked on most over the past year. However, there are great many skills that I still need to work on a lot over the coming months and years. These include:
• Team working/communication
• Leadership skills/people management
Word Count: 324
Below are what I consider to be some of the more important soft skills I've been developing over the last year:
Time Management
Coming to this course I had no hope of managing my time successfully. I'd never really needed to before. However, the stresses and strains of a bigger workload and juggling this with other commitments had made me need to develop my time management skills. I now feel so much more confident with my self-management.
Personal Development/Reflective Work
I feel I now have a much greater ability to be self-critical, analysing my weak (and strong) points, and working out a way forward. This has helped me to move on over the past year, and develop new skills as I've needed them.
Ability to Transmit Energy, Enthusiasm & Confidence
Steve recently mentioned this one on a thread on Das Forum. It struck me that this is something I've improved on. Believe it or not, I used to be pretty nervous about showing any of my work to anyone, and I used to hate having to ask for help in shops, using the phone, etc. Now I don't have a problem with this as much. I've developed a new confidence, and I hope I can begin to show this through the way I act during presentations and pitches (hopefully I don't touch myself as much anymore!)
I also feel I have a variety of other soft skills, but that the above are the ones I've worked on most over the past year. However, there are great many skills that I still need to work on a lot over the coming months and years. These include:
• Team working/communication
• Leadership skills/people management
Word Count: 324
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