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: I hope that I become more comfortable making websites by the end of this term. I don't know much about website design, so I'm just looking forward to the experience and having fun with it.
Inspiring site of the week: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com
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 on making a site showing either people/places I visited for the first time since quarantine began or beaches I visited. I haven't finished my wireframes yet, so the topic is still undecided. I think each page will feel different because I want it to be a reflection of the subject I'm talking about. While I think my typography will be consistent, the imagery and colors will likely change based on subject matter.
Week Three
Prompt:Describe the audience you imagine would be interacting with your site.
Response: I imagine someobody who would enjoying interacting with my Project 1 website will be somebody who knows me personally. I think the handful of people I will send it to (my parents, sister, and maybe a friend) will enjoy seeing habits that I have relied on throughout quarantine. I have called these people practically every day but I think the photos and content on the site will make them feel connected through shared experiences.
Week Four
Prompt: Read this short article https://hbr.org/2019/08/learning-is-supposed-to-feel-uncomfortable and this one on resistance https://www.mindful.org/the-neuroscience-of-resistance-and-how-to-overcome-it/. Considering these articles, make a list of 5 things to keep you going when you feel resistance or discomfort.
Response: Five things to keep me going:
1. Allow myself to feel whatever I'm feeling.
2. Take advantage of the resources that are availible to me.
3. Don't turn away from my work just because I feel resistance toward it.
4. Make a to-do list of things that I need to get done that day.
5. Acknowledge how I feel after I push past resisting and complete the work I set out to do.
Week Five
Prompt: No Journal Prompt. (Omoju Miller talk was the week’s writing.)
Week Six
Prompt: Why 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 about them? How will you improve things in your own design?
Response: I chose the business James Coffee Co. mainly because I wish I could travel there right now.Also, I wanted to redesign their site because their current site is super streamlined. It's an eclectic shop and I thought their site could be a better reflection of that. I think something I’ll focus on is making the main page really stand out. Something I’ve noticed from looking at other sites is that I’m drawn to a homepage that isn’t necessarily functional or packed with information. Most of these sites use large images, but I think I could make it better by adding some animation like a marquee.
Week Seven
Prompt: None, Focus on Project 2.
Week Eight
Prompt: Read this article on mobile-first design and share your thoughts on mobile-first vs desktop first.
Response: This article on mobile first design was interesting for me because I didn’t think about how it could impact the design process. I learned that when your’e designing for mobile, you want to make things as simple as possible and then add on effects and interactions for desktop. This makes sense to me after reading the article because you want to get just the concept down when designing for mobile. If you start with desktop, it's hard to let go of all the great things you made for mobile. Initially I made my homepage for desktop and I had a difficult time figuring out how it would translate to mobile.
Inspiring site of the week: https://2018.aninterestingday.com
Week Nine
Prompt: Spend some time thinking about why you are pursuing a career in design. Really dig down, do the 7 "whys" tool in the article.
Response: This is a little heavy for me leading into finals week when all I can think about is dropping out to start breeding puppies (kidding, mom!), but I think I’m pursuing a career in design because it’s fun for me. Yeah, I know, thats a lame answer. But ultimately, I can’t imagine myself working in excel all day and talking about gross margin with people wearing suits. I like how challenging design is and how good it feels to come up with create solutions. Theres room to be both independent and collaborative. It’s a career that can be flexible and evolve with you.
Week Ten
Prompt: Fill out self evaluation.