Brief 3: Portfolio.
Design for my Home page.
Nik Robinson's website.
Kaori Kishi's website
Originally when considering the presentation and format of my online portfolio, I thought of using a similar style to that of my blog to create a connection through the pieces of work. However the choices of tones and colours were not available on the Moonfruit website, so that idea went no further.
It was from this point that I decided to familiarise myself with the mechanics of Moonfruit to discover how I worked and what was possible. Initially the idea of installing a Flash file into Moonfruit to provide interactivity had filled me with dread as my skills are poor, but after playing for a while it became clear that the Moonfruit provided all the tools required to produce a catalogue of easily navigable pages from which to exhibit your work and details.
Knowing the basics, I concentrated on researching the elements that make a successful website. There were a host of sites offering advice from various web design domains and the one I found most helpful was www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/04/creating-a-successful-online-portfolio/. Here it provided an explanation of the pitfalls and points to consider when constructing a site such as applying simplicity, ease of use, clear concise sentences and retaining clarity and focus on the topic promoting.
From developing a clearer idea of the online portfolio to construct, I looked through the online portfolios from past students to gain some additional information. There were a great variety of styles and methods students used to advertise their work. The one site that stood out for me was by Nik Robinson of the 2007 Degree show. I enjoyed the abstract simplicity he adopted of fallen ink to act as interactive points from which to navigate his work. His style stood out in a subtle, but distinctive way. It displayed an approach and imagery that I would of wished to capture, but unfortunately my skills are not yet to the standard to create this type of website. Another site that inspired the construction of my own online portfolio was that of Kaori Kishi, I enjoyed the simplicity of her site, the geometry used, the clarity it delivered in presenting her work, the brightness brought from the images and the ease in which to navigate through the different pages.
This formed a rough template for my own site, making several alterations so not to be accused of plagiarism and laziness. I retained the selection of boxed images to present past projects, but changed the format of copy and colour of background and fonts to make the site individual to me. I hope my site conveys the elements I’ve mentioned, but that will only tell come the degree show.
Moonfruit address: www.simonlapinski.moonfruit.com
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