Website Design, Take 2

Just when I thought I had my new design hammered down, I had a fresh burst of creativity.  My original design is being set aside in favor of a cleaner concept.

This was my original design.  I liked the idea of using a large photo as the background.  I chose Lomography shots I'd taken, and planned to use a different shot on each sub-page.

Homepage with witty introduction (I'm still refining the copy.)

Concept for Bio sub-page

While I do like this design, I think it would work better for a photography portfolio.  I may still create this site as a web portfolio piece.  I really love the concept, and would love to use the images I chose in some context.  If anyone out there loves this, please send me an e-mail-- this could be your new site!

My latest design is a lot cleaner, simpler, and more representative of my work.  I'm still playing with proportions, but this is what I've come up with so far:

(The light pink vertical rectangles are guides, not part of the design.)

Eventually I will create a Flash enabled version of this site to showcase those skills.  ActionScript is beginning to make some sense, but I'm still waiting for it to really click.  

Meanwhile, I've started going through my work to chose which images to include in the portfolio section.  There were obvious noes, and a good handful of yeses.  The maybes are where I'm having trouble.  I'm trying very hard to be objective about my choices.  Just because I like them it doesn't mean they're a good portfolio piece.  I've also been extra creative lately, so there are pieces in the works that may make the final cut.  This is a happy problem, though.  There are some pieces on my website now that I'm not 100% proud of, but included anyway.  A big mistake I won't be making this time around!

Designing All Day

My website is long overdue for a redesign.  I built it years ago before I knew anything about creating a web page from scratch.  iWeb was the only program I had at my disposal, and while it's very user friendly (gotta love Mac software), it's far from perfect.  Throw in my disregard for file naming conventions, ignorance of SEO, and underdeveloped design style, and you've got yourself a real mess.  OK, maybe not a mess per se, but certainly not a site I'm proud of today.  Now that I have an arsenal of software and online resources, I'm ready to create a proper online portfolio.

My newest favorite is imgr, an online image color tool.  Simply upload an image, pick how many colors you want to generate, and voila!  imgr creates a customized color swatch based on your original pic.  I've used it a couple times already, and love it.  It's a great way to supplement color schemes I've already chosen, or to pick out colors within a photo that I didn't catch.

Above is a swatch I created for my website redesign.  Just a little too autumnal for my tastes, but adding a contrasting blue or purple might fix that.

Class Complete!

Now to wait for the grade...

I'll go ahead and post the URL, here, but don't expect it to be active for long.  The campus server is emptied within a week of the official semester ending.  Once I make a few changes, I'll probably post it to another server.

I believe you can get me through the night...

One of the worst habits I picked up while at college was pulling all-nighters.  This was usually due to another bad habit I developed: procrastination.  When I started taking classes again, I vowed I would stop doing both.  I can proudly report that the procrastination has thus far been held at bay.  Learning Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 is a fun challenge, and easily keeps my attention for hours.

However, working late into the night is a routine I just can't seem to break.  Something about the wee hours inspires me.  I find myself wanting to work more than usual after 10pm, and get some of my best ideas when I should be sleeping.

Since I don't have to be on a "normal" schedule quite yet (one of the perks of retail work), I'll continue to burn the midnight oil.  At least I have my podcasts to keep me company.  New favorite: Radiolab.

And in case you're wondering, here's a peek at what I've been working on:

The final project for my web layout class is to redesign the Palomar College Graphic Communications Department website.  The professor has hinted that the department may actually use one of our designs.  Here's hoping I get picked!  :)

New Website

My website redesign was launched last night! Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Next big project: setting up an online store for my creations.

Staying Busy

I've made myself a schedule that I intend to keep. Every week day I must work on my art in some capacity. Today I worked on framing my paper owl, by preparing mounts and picking out fabric for the background. Tomorrow I will finish up the framing, photograph the finished product, and update my website (For real this time; I swear).

My hope is that by making a schedule and sticking to it, I will become more productive. I also hope to build up a big enough collection of artwork that I can start selling some of my pieces this fall (Anyone in the market for magazine page bowls and animals? They make excellent Christmas gifts!).


Having a mother who sews and is also a fabric pack rat can come in handy.

Website Sneak Preview

Hoping to have the new design up and running by this weekend.

UPDATE: I probably won't have things finished by this weekend, but I'm still trying!

New Blog Banner & Website Redesign

I finally made a banner for my blog. Actually, I made two. After trying out the first Pollock/Punk design I decided I needed something cleaner. The second banner also ties in with a new design I'm working on for my website. I hope to have that finished by next weekend (*fingers crossed*).

Updated website...

I've redesigned and updated my website. More (frequent) updates to come!

New Website!

Well, I finally got my new website up and running. Thank you iWeb and Mecca Hosting!


Please check it out, and let me know what you think.