P2: Planning For My Website

Specification

For this unit I am the client; I am creating a portfolio website for myself and there are some things I would like to accomplish with this website. I would like to promote myself and my work; this is the purpose of my website. Since I am a media student, I want my website to demonstrate my creativity. This will help me personalise my website and stand out from my competitors, other creatives. Furthermore, this shows users how I can adapt and use my creativity to produce different types of media products. My UI design is very important; I want my website to be professional and easy to look at.

I have chosen to present my portfolio on a website. This allows my website to be seen by everyone; websites are easily accessible and I can easily edit my website without being inconvenient to the users. If I used an app instead, every time I changed my portfolio, they would have to update the app through their app store. Furthermore, no one would want to install an app that will take up their phone storage just to see my portfolio as this is inconvenient for the users. Blogs are very limited to what can be placed on them. They usually contain text, videos and images however I cannot customise the page (UI) of the blog to my liking. I concluded that web pages/a website is the best platform to present myself.

My website may have several target audiences such as professionals who may want to collaborate, contact or hire me and media students who might be inspired by my work/portfolio website.

UX design (user experience) is extremely important when creating a website. The users want to be able to navigate my portfolio website with ease. If my website UI was bad, this could be off-putting to them and they won’t want to contact me or act after seeing my portfolio website. They would also like the UI design to be simple and professional, but also show my creativity since this is a key skill I need when working in the media industry. They would expect to be able to see my work, information about me and my qualifications, a contact page and my social media platforms.

For my website, I will be creating a home/about me page where I will introduce myself and what I do. I will also create a page to showcase my work, each project will have a different page itself. I will also create a contact me page where the users can contact me through a form or my social media channels. I want to also add my own blog page so other professionals and media students can see my progress and I can share my experiences/tips with them.

Here is my sitemap. This shows you the several pages and aspects of my website. Like every portfolio website, I will include a home page, gallery/portfolio page and a contact me page. However, I also wanted to add in a blog page. This will let me connect to my target audience and help give advice to other creatives in the media industry. I could potentially acquire revenue from this through advertising.

Three Ways I Will Make My Website Interactive:

Interactivity is so important for websites, it ensures that the users won't get bored of my website. I am going to use rollover hyperlinks, a rollover menu, an interactive gallery on my home page where the client can skip through my designs and when they click one of my projects, they will be directed to the project page. I will also add a thumbs up button for my blog, create a contact form for them to talk to me, embed my own videos either through YouTube or straight onto my website and they can click on social media icons to contact me too.

This is my own personal logo that I created in Adobe Illustrator. You can see my initial sketch above and my finished logo. This logo uses the initials of my name. I have made the F look 3D and the S 2D. This shows how I can use my creativity to see media work in different perspectives.

This is my mood board. A mood board is a selection of sample images or materials based around a certain topic or theme. I have based mine around my portfolio website. From this pre-production material, you can see that I am going to use bright, vibrant colours. These colours are modern and they stand out; they will captivate my clients and make them happy since they are not mute colours.

Lots of the images I have used give an energetic feeling . The person jumping in the air, the tropical places... This links to the colours orange and sunset orange, they connote fun, energy, freedom, adventure and a dynamic nature. The colour orange makes you want to seize the day, I want my clients to see me as someone who will act and create the product they would like. The colour blue symbolises a calm state of mind but also trust and loyalty. I want my clients to see me as trustworthy and reliable.

I have included images of my target audiences, professionals and young people (most likely students). I would love to design modern, fun designs that will influence young people and draw attention.