I remember coming in as an 18 year old freshman, who didn’t even want to go to college, thrown into a world of digital design that I only started my senior year of high school. Now it is my senior year of college and I am about to graduate with a degree in digital design. I’ll be honest, not until the Spring semester of my Junior year did my portfolio seriously start to cross my mind. I was always thinking about my future but it seemed to pass by through lacrosse, other classes and my social life.
Through the years my strengths and weaknesses have changed tremendously. From messing around in an elective digital design class in high school to now, I have learned a lot. My biggest speed bump was the 3D animation and the web design coding, but I completed the classes and learned a lot.
When I sat at my desk for my final Interactive Digital Design class, that is when I knew I made it through all the hard work, but than I also realized the hard work wasn’t over yet, because getting here was half the battle. Creating a portfolio is serious work and takes a lot of thought and organization. I was searching the web for portfolios and found some interesting ones (http://digitalmash.com/). This person has a lot of unique things to tell. I realized that I need this to reflect me as who I am and not for any reason second guess myself. I know that through everything I do I bring a unique flavor of style to what it is I do. I am an open minded outgoing athlete who is very motivated, so I am very excited to see how my portfolio turns out.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
MP30
Don't Make Me Think! Krug's first law of usability.
This definitely was the most important concept that I took from this book. Understanding the fact to make a website self evident, obvious and self explanatory is something I will always remember when creating and critiquing a website.
Things That Make Us Think
When it comes to buttons, I learned to make it obvious to everybody, that includes the label (so that there is no doubt what that button will lead the user to) and the overall look of the button (so that the user knows it is a clickable button)
Create A Clear Visual Hierarchy
The more important something is, the more prominent it is. It is very simple but it is a very important concept.
Street Signs and Breadcrumbs: Designing Navigation
It is very important to make it easy for the user to navigate through the website from the homepage, so that the user isn't getting lost in the website to get important information.
Omit Needless Words
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts." This is a very important thing to remember, because when it comes time, we want to inform people as much as possible but we do not want to overwhelm them.
Several True Things About Testing
Understanding the fact that if I want a great site, I need to test it. Because it is true that after working on it for such a time, it becomes routine and I am not able to see if it works or not, not just the functioning but also the look and personality of the site.
Make It Easy To Go Home
Simple concept that some websites forget. It is necessary to have the home button easily accessible.
Nothing Beats A Good Tagline
Even before I read this book, I felt that a tagline was very important. After reading I realized how much goes into it besides just the phrase that characterizes the business.
The Trouble With Pulldowns
I felt that pulldowns were more creative and organized, and you see them a lot, but this book taught me the problems that are dealt with them. Like the need to seek them out, hard to scan, and that they are twitchy.
Words They're Looking For Aren't There
Another very important rule, is to make everything obvious and straightforward, which goes back to the whole "don't make the user think" concept.
This definitely was the most important concept that I took from this book. Understanding the fact to make a website self evident, obvious and self explanatory is something I will always remember when creating and critiquing a website.
Things That Make Us Think
When it comes to buttons, I learned to make it obvious to everybody, that includes the label (so that there is no doubt what that button will lead the user to) and the overall look of the button (so that the user knows it is a clickable button)
Create A Clear Visual Hierarchy
The more important something is, the more prominent it is. It is very simple but it is a very important concept.
Street Signs and Breadcrumbs: Designing Navigation
It is very important to make it easy for the user to navigate through the website from the homepage, so that the user isn't getting lost in the website to get important information.
Omit Needless Words
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts." This is a very important thing to remember, because when it comes time, we want to inform people as much as possible but we do not want to overwhelm them.
Several True Things About Testing
Understanding the fact that if I want a great site, I need to test it. Because it is true that after working on it for such a time, it becomes routine and I am not able to see if it works or not, not just the functioning but also the look and personality of the site.
Make It Easy To Go Home
Simple concept that some websites forget. It is necessary to have the home button easily accessible.
Nothing Beats A Good Tagline
Even before I read this book, I felt that a tagline was very important. After reading I realized how much goes into it besides just the phrase that characterizes the business.
The Trouble With Pulldowns
I felt that pulldowns were more creative and organized, and you see them a lot, but this book taught me the problems that are dealt with them. Like the need to seek them out, hard to scan, and that they are twitchy.
Words They're Looking For Aren't There
Another very important rule, is to make everything obvious and straightforward, which goes back to the whole "don't make the user think" concept.
MP28
The majority of the responses I got from my friends and roommates were quite similar. They enjoyed the simplicity of the design as well as the organization of it. The one negative response I got was about the color scheme that I chose, in result made me change and alter my design color scheme. Overall the layout got recognition for being easy to work through which they thought was a very important characteristic for a website.
MP27
Hi, ___________. My name is Chris, and I’m going to be walking you through this session today.
Before we begin, I have some information for you, and I’m going to read it to make sure that I cover everything.
You probably already have a good idea of why we asked you here, but let me go over it again briefly. We’re asking people to try using a Web site that we’re working on so we can see whether it works as intended. The session should take about an hour.
The first thing I want to make clear right away is that we’re testing the site, not you. You can’t do anything wrong here. In fact, this is probably the one place today where you don’t have to worry about making mistakes.
As you use the site, I’m going to ask you as much as possible to try to think out loud: to say what you’re looking at, what you’re trying to do, and what you’re thinking. This will be a big help to us.
Also, please don’t worry that you’re going to hurt our feelings. We’re doing this to improve the site, so we need to hear your honest reactions.
If you have any questions as we go along, just ask them. I may not be able to answer them right away, since we’re interested in how people do when they don’t have someone sitting next to them to help. But if you still have any questions when we’re done I’ll try to answer them then. And if you need to take a break at any point, just let me know.
You may have noticed the microphone. With your permission, we’re going to record what happens on the screen and our conversation. The recording will only be used to help us figure out how to improve the site, and it won’t be seen by anyone except the people working on this project. And it helps me, because I don’t have to take as many notes.
Also, there are a few people from the Web design team observing this session in another room. (They can’t see us, just the screen.)
If you would, I’m going to ask you to sign a simple permission form for us. It just says that we have your permission to record you, and that the recording will only be seen by the people working on the project.
Before we look at the site, I’d like to ask you just a few quick questions.
First, what’s your occupation? What do you do all day?
Now, roughly how many hours a week altogether—just a ballpark estimate— would you say you spend using the Internet, including Web browsing and email, at work and at home?
And what’s the split between email and browsing—a rough percentage?
What kinds of sites are you looking at when you browse the Web?
Do you have any favorite Web sites?
OK, great. We’re done with the questions, and we can start looking at things.
First, I’m going to ask you to look at this page and tell me what you make of it: what strikes you about it, whose site you think it is, what you can do here, and what it’s for. Just look around and do a little narrative.
You can scroll if you want to, but don’t click on anything yet.
Thanks. Now I’m going to ask you to try doing some specific tasks. I’m going to read each one out loud and give you a printed copy.
I’m also going to ask you to do these tasks without using Search. We’ll learn a lot more about how well the site works that way.
And again, as much as possible, it will help us if you can try to think out loud as you go along.
Thanks, that was very helpful.
If you’ll excuse me for a minute, I’m just going to see if the people on the team have any follow-up questions they’d like me to ask you.
Do you have any questions for me, now that we’re done?
Before we begin, I have some information for you, and I’m going to read it to make sure that I cover everything.
You probably already have a good idea of why we asked you here, but let me go over it again briefly. We’re asking people to try using a Web site that we’re working on so we can see whether it works as intended. The session should take about an hour.
The first thing I want to make clear right away is that we’re testing the site, not you. You can’t do anything wrong here. In fact, this is probably the one place today where you don’t have to worry about making mistakes.
As you use the site, I’m going to ask you as much as possible to try to think out loud: to say what you’re looking at, what you’re trying to do, and what you’re thinking. This will be a big help to us.
Also, please don’t worry that you’re going to hurt our feelings. We’re doing this to improve the site, so we need to hear your honest reactions.
If you have any questions as we go along, just ask them. I may not be able to answer them right away, since we’re interested in how people do when they don’t have someone sitting next to them to help. But if you still have any questions when we’re done I’ll try to answer them then. And if you need to take a break at any point, just let me know.
You may have noticed the microphone. With your permission, we’re going to record what happens on the screen and our conversation. The recording will only be used to help us figure out how to improve the site, and it won’t be seen by anyone except the people working on this project. And it helps me, because I don’t have to take as many notes.
Also, there are a few people from the Web design team observing this session in another room. (They can’t see us, just the screen.)
If you would, I’m going to ask you to sign a simple permission form for us. It just says that we have your permission to record you, and that the recording will only be seen by the people working on the project.
Before we look at the site, I’d like to ask you just a few quick questions.
First, what’s your occupation? What do you do all day?
Now, roughly how many hours a week altogether—just a ballpark estimate— would you say you spend using the Internet, including Web browsing and email, at work and at home?
And what’s the split between email and browsing—a rough percentage?
What kinds of sites are you looking at when you browse the Web?
Do you have any favorite Web sites?
OK, great. We’re done with the questions, and we can start looking at things.
First, I’m going to ask you to look at this page and tell me what you make of it: what strikes you about it, whose site you think it is, what you can do here, and what it’s for. Just look around and do a little narrative.
You can scroll if you want to, but don’t click on anything yet.
Thanks. Now I’m going to ask you to try doing some specific tasks. I’m going to read each one out loud and give you a printed copy.
I’m also going to ask you to do these tasks without using Search. We’ll learn a lot more about how well the site works that way.
And again, as much as possible, it will help us if you can try to think out loud as you go along.
Thanks, that was very helpful.
If you’ll excuse me for a minute, I’m just going to see if the people on the team have any follow-up questions they’d like me to ask you.
Do you have any questions for me, now that we’re done?
MP26
http://www.yahoo.com/
Search engine, mail and news
Yes, organized and clear
http://www.thisis50.com/
News in the entertainment business
Yes
http://insidelacrosse.com/
News of the game of lacrosse
Yes
http://www.laxpower.com/
Forums on high school, college, and professional lacrosse
Yes
http://www.stumbleupon.com/home
Browses the internet for websites that you are interested in
Yes
Search engine, mail and news
Yes, organized and clear
http://www.thisis50.com/
News in the entertainment business
Yes
http://insidelacrosse.com/
News of the game of lacrosse
Yes
http://www.laxpower.com/
Forums on high school, college, and professional lacrosse
Yes
http://www.stumbleupon.com/home
Browses the internet for websites that you are interested in
Yes
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