EVALUATION

I went into this brief with a definitive idea of what I wanted to get out of it from the start. I knew that I wanted a portfolio website and I thought that this brief would be the perfect opportunity to achieve this. I was very interested in what I was going to come out of the brief with and the research was definitely secondary.

This soon changed when I realized that I would need to do quite a bit of technical research into how I was going to make the site, what portfolio sites contain and the reasons people have them. My initial focus was on the various methods I could use to make the website and then secondly the aesthetics of the site. Most of this website was done using the Internet by looking at other portfolio websites and blogs that I liked and then for the more technical information I was looking at online tutorials. I soon realized that simply focusing on the technical & aesthetic side, wouldn’t result in the best website. I then started using the library as more of a research resource by looking through their magazine back catalog and books. I found this a reliable and useful resource and one that I will definitely use more in the future. This got me thinking about the importance of planning when it comes to creating a website. It meant that I could plan out how my website was going to function before I even opened Dreamweaver. This turned out to be a crucial stage in my research and development and did make the whole process a lot easier.

Most of my research was self-driven using the Internet or library resources but I wouldn’t say that this was the most effect. Instead I found that the sessions I had on CSS and Flash really helped me to get a deeper understanding of the technical side. It also helped talking to other people on the course doing the same sort of projects because we were mostly encountering similar problems. I found that research done when trying to overcome a problem forces you to think harder and dig deeper to try and find a solution. It is also the sort of research that stays with you for longer and makes a more lasting impact.

In terms of my production methods I definitely made the right choice by going with Dreamweaver and CSS. I made this decision after trying to create an introduction animation in flash that I could use as a menu in flash or even go on to make a whole flash website. However I struggled to make it work how I envisaged and through my previous research I found that the simpler and more concise a portfolio website is the easier it will be for users to get an idea about you and your work (unless of course you’re a web designer etc). This led me back to Dreamweaver and CSS and helped me settle on a simpler design. This research was formed through trail and error and can only come at the doing/production stage of a project. Personally I think this is the most effective and memorable form of research.

Using the blog as an online sketchbook has now become my preferred method of documenting a project and I couldn’t see any other logical way of documenting a project like this, where it’s based around the Internet. As always I think that I could have done more research but I believe that you get to a point in your project where you get too focused on the final outcome and the research drifts into the background. Even though this was meant to be a research project I don’t think I’ve ever seen it like that because I knew that I wanted to produce a portfolio website and that’s always been my main drive. I think that my website is a fair representation of what I have learnt through this project and I know that I wouldn’t have been able to do this before the brief. I have learnt a whole new realm of web design, CSS and if I were to produce another website I would use it again. With that said I know that I have only touched the surface when it comes to web design but the whole project has helped me to understand that I don’t want to go any deeper.

My rationale behind the brief was that I wanted to create a portfolio website. It is this that has driven the research and I haven’t really deviated away from this throughout the whole project. All of the research has been directed towards the single goal of producing a portfolio website and not particularly because I want to have a better understanding of web design etc. This may seem a bit narrow minded but as the project developed I have seen it as a means to an end. There was a small element of exploration with this brief, as I wanted to see if I would like to take web design any further in the future. As I’ve stated before this isn’t the case, so I have come out of the project with a clearer view of where I sit as a practitioner.

As each brief goes past I think I am getting a better idea of what you need to do to effectively plan a project. However with this brief I thought I could get a lot more done in the timeframe than I actually did. With this sort of project you spend a lot of time sat in front of a computer and it is very self-contained. I think it is very easy to tired or bored of the project. This was mainly my fault as I would have liked to be at the position I am now (with the site online and functioning) a lot earlier so I could have focused more on generating some more content to actually go on the website. Another aspect for future projects would be that I don’t make consistent posts on my blog and I leave them to build up and then I have to try and remember things that I did. In the future I want it to be a more consistent and regular process and I think this will reflect in better, more coherent research. This is just something that I’m going to have to keep in mind and I don’t want to forget about putting content onto my site.

With all this said I am very pleased with what I have achieved in this brief and I feel I have created a website that fits all my needs and requirements. I am viewing the site as an ongoing work in progress as there are a few things I am considering changing but I am glad that I have a working framework online that I can build onto.