your web portfolio
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Your Web Portfolio. ART340. Your Target Audience. Who will visit your site? When deciding where you want to work, ask yourself: Urban vs. Rural? What is the demographic location? What is the culture of the area you wish to live in? - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
YOUR WEB PORTFOLIOART340
Your Target Audience Who will visit your site? When deciding where you want
to work, ask yourself: Urban vs. Rural? What is the demographic location? What is the culture of the area you wish to live in? If you were an employer, what would you want to see
on a potential hire’s site? For this project, you will create 3 user profiles for
you, and two of your competitors.
Your Target Audience Q: Why must you understand your target audience? A: It is essential in selecting your design pieces, and
in designing your site for that particular audience.
Give your target user profile a name, let’s say Bob. Ask yourself, what would Bob want to see?
Bob
Personal Logo You will create a logo for your site. The first thing a potential employer will see is your
logo. Create a memorable logo.
TIP: Show your roommates your logo concepts. Ask them a couple days later which one stuck out the most to them?
Keep your logo near the top of your design. Tip: Always link your logo to your homepage.
Joe Shmoe
Personal Logo Examples:
Personal Tagline When a person arrives at your site, they want to know
who you are & what you do. A tagline explains that. Keep it simple and clear.
Spend time to reflect on: What do I do? What experience do I have? What do I
love? Check out: www.sloganizer.net/et _____________________________________________
I design for money. I enjoy it for free. Great design is what I do.
I design to live, and eat to design.
The Portfolio Use large, high-quality images Limit your scope and number of works
10 is much better than 50 Provide who, what, where, when and why of each
example Consider doing a short and sweet description for
each work. Describe the skills you needed to complete the
project.
What can you include? Book designs Design projects Fine art Layouts Magazines Photographs Calligraphy Illustrations
Logos Package design Storyboards Type Web design App design
Anything that showcases your creative skills.
Your Services Eliminate the guesswork. Tell them
what you do. Possible Examples:
Logo design Flyer design Poster design Editorial design Web design Web development Video Copywriting Photography
About Me The place where you modestly toot your own horn. Things to consider including on this page:
Your background information Any interesting details about yourself A picture of yourself
Adds an element of trust Any awards and recognition Your skills Client testimonials
Y O U R O W N H O R N
Contact The second-most important
page on your portfolio site If someone wants to hire you, help them, help you Make it as easy as you can on the visitor Make your contact button highly visible Write a sentence inviting them to contact you Consider creating a user-friendly contact form
Craft Use standards compliant markup Organize your files and folders Remove unneeded images/rules/etc. Avoid spaghetti code! If a potential hire goes under the hood of your site,
make sure your engine purrs like a newborn kitten
jTheir markup is superb. Let’s hire
them.
Usability Clear, visible and user-friendly navigation Beware of uncommon navigations Don't let your creative concept distract from your
work: For example, horizontal scrolling
can be confusing
YOUR GOAL :THIS REACTION
Call to Action A “call to action” is what you want your
visitors to do once they arrive Each page should have one In your case, from the homepage, you might want a
button that leads the person to view your portfolio. Make the action clear. A large button linking to
another page is one solution._____________________________________________What are some other calls to action your site might
have?
Social Media Behance Deviant Art Flickr Linkedin Blogs Avoid using sites like
Facebook, Pinterest & Twitter unless these pages are professional in nature.
Blog Blogs are what’s hot Why? They generate fresh content on a regular
basic, and search engine loves that. An opportunity showcase your knowledge. People can follow you by subscribing to your RSS
feed. Top 5 free blogging sites:
Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal, Tumblr, Blogsome
Design Considerations Avoid using too many visual elements Utilize whitespace Consider down-the-road how easy it will be to do
updates Subtlety infuse your personality Consider creating infographics Less is more.
InfoGraphics Visual communication at its essence.
Employment Timeline InfoGraphic
Portfolio Examples
Let’s look at some portfolio websites together:
http://dansweetdesign.com/ http://www.gerrenlamson.com/index.htm http://www.markhobbs.net/ http://jawsmartin.com (your peer)
Final Tip Be yourself. This is a personal portfolio site, so be personal. Avoid being too corporate, aka. cold and serious.
ReferencesMunroe, Lee. "10 Steps To The Perfect Portfolio
Website."Smashing Magazine. N.p., 26 2009. Web. 8 Nov 2012. <http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/26/10-steps-to-the-perfect-portfolio-website/>.
Hodge, Sean. "Creating A Successful Online Portfolio."Smashing Magazine. N.p., 04 2008. Web. 8 Nov 2012. <http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/04/creating-a-successful-online-portfolio/>.