DESIGN JOURNAL

WEEK 1

What do you hope to achieve in this class by the end of the term?
Are there special projects or technologies you’d like to see covered by the end of the term?
Is there a site (or two) that gives you butterflies in your stomach? What is it?

I hope to achieve a firm understanding of the basics of website building and coding. If I have the tools to troubleshoot issues and explore ideas so that I can further develop my skills after this class, I will be happy. I want to feel confident in both creating structure for a site's content, and being able to customize it in unique ways. I don't know that I would say this site gives me 'butterflies', but this artist's website is super fun and unique! Linked below.

WEEK 2

What are you planning to do for project 1? What content do you plan to show?
How will you make each page unique while maintaining a cohesive design across the project?
How will your color palette, imagery, and typography choice complement your subject matter?

I am planning to make a site where I am more concerned with the aesthetics than I am about the content. I am going to focus on a small collection of subpar redscale film photos that I have of plants from southern california. The color palette of the site will come from these monochromatic photos which are primarily red tones and dark greys. The type will have a lo-fi vibe similar to the photos, maybe a monospace, sort of tech-looking one. I'm hoping to have the photos taking up most of each page. Each page will have different content about the plants. Like, are they invasive? What is their purpose? Maybe I'll find a poem to pair with one of them.

WEEK 3

Imagine one user who'll love to use your Project 1 website. What do they spend their time on?
What are their hobbies, clothes, music, favorite foods, books, tv? Describe their personality.

A high school student living in Southern California. They are learning to use a film a camera, they walk around everywhere with it. The camera they carry around allows them to notice and appreciate the mundane that surrounds them everyday. Having a series of photos from these mundane days allows them to see patterns.. to build collections of things. They dress simply, probably mostly black. They're always looking into new genres of music but have a few albums they love and will always go back to. They like simple, comforting meals. They're happy with a snacking dinner. They prefer reading an engaging book over watching tv but still loves the occasional movie night. They are down to earth and find comfort and intrigue in the little details of life.

WEEK 4

Make a list of 5 things to keep you going when you feel resistance or discomfort in learning.

• Acknowledge when I'm putting something off because I don't want to feel uncomfortable.
• Tomorrow will be no different. Do it today.
• This is a universal problem. Learning is hard.
• I might not be very good at somthing when I;m just learning, that's okay.
• Remember that no matter how long you've been doing something, you've never mastered it. You will always be learning.

WEEK 6

Why did you choose the business/cause that you chose? Why do you think your redesign will be better? What area/content will you focus on in your redesign? Look at two other similar websites. What stands out about those sites? What bothers you about them? How will you improve things in your own design?

I choose to remake Meat Cheese Bread's website because they have great food and I want them to succeed! Their current website isn't horrible but it has a lot of room for improvment. I want to design a site that is more current but doesn't stray away from their low-key vibe. I think the food should be more heavily featured and the style a smidge more modern. I checked out two other websites from similar establishments, Stacked Sandwhich Shop and The Baker's Mark. [Side note- Baker's Mark makes amazing subs, you gotta try them!] Both websites are still pretty basic but are more modern and built out than the Meat Cheese Bread website so I'd say they are a little behind their competition. Stacked website looks pretty good, they have good interactions and clear navigation. I didn't notice any glitches. Whereas the Baker's Mark site has quite a few glitches and does not seem as well thought out. I remember for a long time a glitch prevented me from ordering online via mobile, I had to do it on the desktop for it to work! I aim to have very clear navigation in my site as well as alluring content that will make people want to try their food!

WEEK 8

Read this medium.com article on mobile-first design and share your thoughts on mobile-first vs desktop first.

This concept makes perfect sense to me! It is shocking how often I try to open a site on mobile that clearly is not responding to the smaller display size. A mobile-first designed website is more likely to have a smooth transition between screen sizes and lend itself to a simple and intuative interface. I noticed how horribily my Project 1 site looks on mobile and I do want to code it so that it looks nice on the smaller screen but because I didn't do that to begin with it seems very daunting to try to go back and change it now. While it feels difficult to learn this mobile-first way now, I know it will make things much eaiser later!

WEEK 9

Spend some time thinking about why you are pursuing a career in design. Really dig down, do the 7 "whys" tool in the article.

This in an interesting concept and I could see it's potential for motivation. I found myself needing more clarification I suppose. Like thinking of when things get difficult (ahem.. like right now), what keeps me going VS. why did I start on this path. I think for a lot of people it could be the same why for both but I think maybe not for me. If I think about why I started it doesn't feel as impactful as the whys that keep me going. My initial why was very logical and practical. I knew I wanted to pursue a creative field as I've always been creatively minded but I wanted to also do something that had a lot of function or that fulfilled practical needs for people in their everyday lives. While I spent many years pursing a photography career for these reasons it never felt like the right path for me so I started to look into design. I could be creative and focus on function and in a sense organize content (I love to organize), so it appealed to me for logical reasons and therefor doesn't feel like a strong motivator. So why do I keep going? I can tell you for sure it's not because of pride or proving people wrong. It's not about proving something to myself either or trying to be the best. I went through the thought steps like the article outlined and basically landed on a strong sense of gratefulness. My family has been endlessly supportive. I mean I still have had to work hard to pay my bills and buy food but I've been so lucky to not have had to try to pay for school at the same time. And while I know that my family does not have firm expectations for me, or that they require that I fulfill my commitment but I still want to succeed because they've been generous enough to give me the tools to succeed and I desperately don't want to waste that opportunity and generosity. I think that's a pretty strong why to keep myself motivated and while I've never put this much thought into it, it is something I have known the whole time. There has not been one moment where I have not been grateful for their help and I will succeed because of it.