So this projects been a massive stress. I did exactly what I shouldn’t have done. I decided I was more interested in branding than anything else. I learned how to use the platform very well put i’ve not achieved what I wanted in terms of learning how to do layout design.
I feel as if my website has been designed in a blocky, minimalistic manor, which is what I always seem to do. It seems to lack a lot of creativity but it does function as far well as far as I can tell from the user testing I have done.
I’ve been fortunate enough to get some work out of learning WordPress already. Alongside doing my website for this project I’ve been working on a portfolio site for a friend of mine in Cornwall. When she approached me I felt confident that I could design something that would fulfill her needs. I’ve made a 3 page website; Homepage, About and Contact. I feel as if this is the highest achievement from this project, and although its only a friend it could lead onto more work with others.
I’m really happy with my branding. I’ve reworked the StanceWorks branding to suit the event and feel I’ve bought some of my own work in with it. I especially love my poster design, although I didn’t manage to incorporate it onto the site I’ve put it on my blog in the very early stages.
Impressively I’ve actually started to use my sketchbook of my own accord. This is the first year where they haven’t been compulsory but I’ve become so used to using one its been hard to put it down. Its been a great asset in this project and I’m thankful that the lecturers have drilled it into me about how important they are.
The theme I chose for this website was designed by Anariel Design and called Passenger. When I first purchased it I was over the moon. After struggling for many days with the free events theme I was given I thought this would be the answer to all my problems. As time went on however I tried styling more and more and I believe this is where it went wrong. I ended up with very little design left from the original theme. One of the most helpful things about Wordpress, i think anyway, is the themes being prebuilt so you haven’t got any obligation to do any coding if you don’t know how to. I could have realistically just thrown a load of content into this theme as created a website that looked reasonable. Not how i wanted it, but passable for this project. This wouldn’t have felt like my own however and I think thats been my battle all along, and I know some of my fellow classmates with sympathize with me here. As a designer I like to create unique, original and eye catching medias. So to design something within something that already been designed felt a bit backwards. However, as has been highlighted throughout this project - a lot of people are asking for WordPress sites nowadays so there is work in that field. Not something I would necessarily like to hone in on but I like the fact that I feel confident enough to do it. Its also very easy to hand over the website to your client once it’s been completed, ready for them to update whenever they need to.