Week One
Prompt: What do you hope to achieve in this class by the end of the term? Are there special projects or technologies you’d like to see covered by the end of the term? Is there a site (or two) that gives you butterflies in your stomach? What is it?
Response: By the end of this term I'd like to be able to say that I am familiar with HTML and CSS. It would also be neat if I could design my own portfolio page but I think that is a little ambitious! There is not any specific project or technology I'd like covered. The two websites that I have found that really stuck with me are two graphic designer portfolios. They're just so interactive and unique to me, but I haven't delved very deep into web design yet!
Inspiring site of the week: https://juliebonnemoy.com https://kuon.space/#top
Week Two
Prompt: What are you planning to do for project 1? What content do you plan to show? How will you make each page unique while maintaining a cohesive design across the project? How will your color palette, imagery, and typography choice complement your subject matter?
Response: I'm planning to make a site about good beginner indoor plants. I'm planning on including a summary of each plant with interesting facts about them and their care in addition to a little care sheet with things like required water, sun, soil, etc. I'm planning to complement my subject matter by choosing photos that put emphasis on the plants and their leaves. I plan on using bold typography that has organic shapes to compliment the shapes of the leaves as well. I'll use a different color on each page in addition to a different image on each page to differentiate all of the plants from eachother. I might do different typefaces for each plant as well but I'm not sure if that will end up being too much differentiation between each page and end up looking messy.
Inspiring site of the week: discoveredfoods.com
Week Three
Prompt: I want you to clearly imagine one user who'll love to use your Project 1 website. This user could be you, it could be someone similar to you, it could be someone completely opposite from you, it could even be a non-human animal or an alien or an amoeba. You get to choose. Really imagine what they are like in their mind. What do they spend their time on? what are their hobbies, clothes, music, favorite foods, books, tv. what's their personality like. Once you've imagined this person. write about them. just a paragraph, three to five sentences. try to have fun with it
Response: I definitely had myself in mind when designing this website. I recently repotted a bunch of houseplants and was referencing many websites to find the information I needed about the best soil for each of my plants. I found a lot of the websites to be really boring, so I wanted to create a website that is informative about plants but also fun to look at. So, I guess this person is a fledgling plantmom that is concerned with aesthetics- which is part of the reason she got the plants in the first place.
Inspiring site of the week: wastenot.world
Week Four
Prompt: Considering these articles, make a list of 5 things to keep you going when you feel resistance or discomfort.
Response:
- Knowing that the people learning around me are uncomfortable too.
- Knowing that this uncomfortable feeling is temporary and the reward is greater.
- Remembering that I started doing whatever it is I'm doing for a reason.
- Sometimes just by acting like I know what I'm doing, kinda faking it for myself.
- My parents instilled in me that "you can't be a quitter" so sometimes that'll kick in as well.
Inspiring site of the week: I really like the animation on the photos! this one is just so fun
Week Six
Prompt: What did you choose the business/cause that you chose? Why do you think your redesign will be better? What area/content will you focus on in your redesign? Look at two other similar websites. What stands out about those sites? what bothers you abut them? How will you improve things in your own design.
Response: I chose Wildish Botanicals. I think my redesign will be better because I think it better captures the feeling of the store and their brand. Their website is primarily a webstore, but I won't be focusing on that as that part of their website is fine. I'm working more on giving their website a unique voice, it feels very flat and like a template. I looked at similar websites and they had the same issues, they were very much focused on being a webstore first and a way to brand themselves second. As a result, all of these websites feel the same.
Inspiring site of the week: Yolele.com
Week Eight
Prompt:Read this article on mobile-first design and share your thoughts on mobile-first vs desktop first.
Response: I think mobile first is very important. The process of desktop being designed second didn't seem that important to me until I took this class. However, now I am thinking back to the many times I have left a website I was using while on my phone because it was not optimized for mobile use. I think it is absolutely imperitive that mobile design comes first. It is integral to making responsive design. I liked how the article said that desktop-first design results in a watered-down unfinished product for mobile, I agree with that as well.
Inspiring site of the week: setresidential.com
Week Nine
Prompt: What's your why?
Response: I started doing graphic desing because I realized I missed being creative and I had grown jealous of my friends who had painting for homework. I do creative things because it makes me feel good, I enjoy creating, and I like beautiful things. I guess I keep designing because the world has so much potential to be beautiful and easy to digest, but it gets overcomplicated and turned into an ugly tangled web at times. Why let the world continue on in that way when I could be part of the people to change it? Make it more accessible to more people and more enjoyable.
Inspiring site of the week: This cool champagne site
Week Ten
Prompt: Before the final, please write at least a few paragraphs on your design process and reasoning for the design decisions you made on your project.
Response: