Program: Google Sites, Webflow, Adobe Dreamweaver
Discipline: Web Design, Self-Promotion, Portfolio Development
Course: TGJ3O, TGJ3M, TGJ4O, TGJ4M
This culminating activity assignment serves as an opportunity to reflect on the work you’ve completed in this class. You will exhibit three pieces of work from the course (Brand/Logo, Subway Diagram, Image Composite, Typography, Animated Portrait, Beverage Label, Beat Match, Streaming Setup, 3D Print) in an interactive web portfolio and provide commentary on your design process throughout the site.
You will draft, design and program this website using the web publishing platform of your choice (Recommended: Google Sites, Adobe Dreamweaver or Webflow) and make the site public for your peers, family and friends to view. Provide a link to your site as your submission.
Design is a process of continuous self-reflection and iteration. As budding graphic designers, it is crucial to explore and understand our own identity within this creative realm. Through self-reflection, we gain insight into our design processes, discover our strengths and weaknesses, and find inspiration that fuels our artistic growth. In this assignment, you will craft several self reflective entries that comment on individual works you’ve created or on your design identity as a whole. By articulating your design process, recounting your triumphs and challenges, and presenting your best work, you will not only gain a deeper understanding of yourself as a designer but also hone your ability to communicate your ideas effectively.
The landing page is the first impression visitors will have of the portfolio. It should be visually appealing, with a clear and concise (short!) introduction to grab the viewer's attention. A photo of yourself (or an image you've created that represents you) is highly recommended here. Consider incorporating a brief bio or tagline that reflects your personality and design style. You'll want to include simple and easy to access links to the rest of your site visible here. You may even consider working in your site's content seamlessly into your landing page so that your user can simply scroll/swipe through your work (links are still recommended for shortcuts and ease of access).
You'll want to showcase at least 3 of the works you created in this year (does not necessarily need to be from this class, but it needs to be recent). Showcasing notable works allows you to demonstrate skills and the concepts you've have mastered throughout the semester, showing your potential viewer your strengths and proficiencies. Each showcase should include the highest quality exports/renders of your work, a project description, images, and any relevant technologies or methodologies used. This helps viewers understand the depth and variety of the student's capabilities. Consider showcasing your work from different angles, adding images of features/details that you're proud of, and then consider how your work fits in with the overall aesthetic and function of your portfolio/website.
Include a section that describes your identity as a designer. Sell yourself to a potential client, employer or educational institution. This "essay" should be well-written and clearly presented, and you should aim to demonstrate your understanding of design principles, personal growth in the course, and your ability to communicate your ideas effectively. You will be marked on your articulation of your ideas, the structure of your essay, your paragraph structure and your references to course material, work and vocabulary learned in the course.
Remember the 200 word reflection you made at the very start of the course? Consult that as you're writing and see how it shapes your essay! If you'd like to, you can include snippets of this essay and directly comment on them in the present tense (i.e. critique what you wrote from your present position today)
Creating a "Contact Me" or "Get in Touch" section is essential for networking and potential career opportunities. Consider including a simple contact form, email address, business-relevant social media accounts, or other relevant contact information. This section enables viewers, including employers and educators, to easily reach out for collaboration, employment opportunities, or further discussion about the your work.
Designing for the web is a little bit like casting a magical incantation. What you see anywhere on the web is the result of many lines of code, written in different languages, all communicating together to piece together a functional and cohesive website. HTML (stands for Hypertext Markup Language) is the code base of all webpages. It provides your website with a structure and simple navigation. Think of HTML like the scaffolding at a construction site of a building. CSS (stands for Cascading Style Sheets) is another language needed to create a website, and it acts like the coat of paint that goes over all of the items you add to your HTML document. Finally, JavaScript is a turing-complete programming language that adds functionality to your website, like animations that play when you hover your mouse over an element, or a button that changes colours when you click on it. Learning 3 programming languages all at once is a massive undertaking, so it's recommended that you use a drag-and-drop UI style web editor, such as Google Sites, and supplement your code knowledge by adding one or two HTML/CSS/JS embedded objects that you can either code yourself or design in other applications such as Spline or Figma.