Design Design Design (wk8, 9 & the Mid sem break)
mmmmmm (stretch), what a pleasant mid semester break…
My content and refreshed status, however is not deserved. I am a little behind schedule (little= quite a lot). The two weeks following the last post were quite productive, amongst the regular synchronisation of all assignment due dates I managed to finished the design, cut up the pieces and start to experiment with web site creation. Ultimately this brought me to a slight hurdle: moulding my design into a website (it seemed a little easier in my head). This little hurdle was experienced early in the mid sem break and I blame it for the lack of motivation over the break and where I stand now!
……hmmm, I can’t really blame anything else other then my laziness. I was trapped and confused and I lost enthusiasm. I wanted to create the site properly using CSS, however after all the tutes I have done I am still not grasping layout and structure of web site coding using web standards and CSS, I can’t work out how to create the site/design that I want. After kicking myself and sulking I decided to step back, take a deep breath and look at the big picture. I am creating this as a container to showcase my designs and graphic works, not necessarily to showcase my web coding skills. I looked at my timeline and with the due date drawing nearer (and the due dates of other assignments) I decided to cut my losses and use a mixture of HTML and CSS for the design (that means tables to organise the structure, which is not always good). This approach shatters me, but I have to think of the final presentation and what I am showing (behind the scenes perfection will have to be abandoned).
I am now creating the web site, and designing the work content that will be shown in the portfolio section of the site. The other content has already been written. I mentioned I was behind at the start of this post, I originally planned at the start to have the site and a selection of most of the designs completed by this week (wk10). so I am a week behind, with a week until I am presenting. I am still confident on comfortably finishing the site with a good selection of designs by wk11, I originally created the timeline with slack in it for situations such as this. I will get it done, but it makes me wonder how much different the finished product could be if I had have been more focused and less frustrated during the mid sem break.
The weeks following the critique, before the due date, will consist of hard work, focus and determination to ensure that the portfolio I have is the best it can be.
In regards to my future with CSS, I plan to do a lot of study and experimentation over the Xmas break, before I pursue further study and or employment. I see the work and need for more web designers, so It can only be beneficial to learn to code/design for the web in the most professional way possible (even if i work in a different area, i am sure it will be beneficial). It will be easier as well, without the baggage of having already created and become attached to a design (I can see my mistakes and I want to improve).
