Portfolio Presentation

In this final week I will begin preparation of the presentation of my portfolio. The presentation will be aimed at informing people of what I do, and how I hope to use my portfolio in my career.







To present my portfolio, I will use the portfolio website itself (www.whbdesign.co.uk). The galleries and open ordered structure of the website will provide a fluid and attention grabbing format for my work.

I will structure my presentation based on the following format:

• Introduction to myself and what I have been doing recently
• Introduction into the concept of my portfolio and how it reflects my profession
• Walk-through of portfolio format
• About Me, Services and CV Explanation
• Portfolio display, showing Web, Logo, Icon, and Miscellaneous designs and gallery functions.
• Contact function display and Business Card handout
• Conclusion and Q&A.

After the presentation I would like the viewers to be inspired and curious about myself and my profession, and would hope that a lot of questions are asked.

Entry Into a Design Contest

I have decided to see if my portfolio website would be eligible in a design competition.

The competition I will look at is the monthly award hosted by the American Design Awards. I will enter this competition because the award is rewarded to "web designers responsible for designing creative or innovative websites for themselves or legitimate paying clients". I will enter my website under the 'personal' category. Here is my entry form filled in:



I believe that my website, being that it fits it's promotion and purpose so well, would be a great contender in this competition, and I would stand a good chance at winning.

Final Portfolio Adjustments

I have now implemented final adjustments to my portfolio website, and added some starting content to my portfolio.



This screenshot shows the 'temperate' desktop wallpaper I created to bring contrast to the icons and windows. The random wallpaper is no longer used due to the contrast being uncontrollable.



This screenshot shows the different windows in my website. They contrast well with their background and can be positioned wherever the user wants, as is found in real modern operating systems.

The only changes that will be made to the website now are adding portfolio content as and when it is made.

Portfolio Refinement

I have refined the "wallpaper" of the website's desktop to be a randomly generated image from my portfolio. The website retains it's uniqueness (a highly uncommon website format, let alone online portfolio format), however I can see problems arising with consistency and legibility of some aspects due to the contrasts of the different wallpapers. In my next revisions I believe I will have to create a wallpaper that complements the current colours of windows and icons.

Portfolio Mock-Up

Here is a mock up of the sketch created in the previous post...



The screen is designed as close to a 4:3 ratio as possible. The main desktop (shown) is the only screen in the website the user will be able to interact with. The desktop is a temporary picture at the moment (one that is designed to fit the colour scheme).

For ease of coding, only what is shown on the screen will be made in flash. The background/border of the monitor will be a static image in the HTML document, so that no matter how many changes are made to the flash document, it can always be overlapped on top of the monitor border.

Early Web Site Stages

Here is a brainstorm of what the portfolio is intended to look like...



I have chosen to create the portfolio that represents a computer operating system, as I believe this is most relevant to my skills that will be shown.

The website will be made in flash, shown on a single HTML page.

The website will have a mock 'BIOS' screen, and the pre-loader of the web site will be integrated into the 'boot' screen of the 'operating system'. After the website is loaded the user will be able to use the 'desktop' shortcuts to open what information they want, in a non-linear fashion.

Portfolio Revision

I have decided to revise what areas of my work my portfolio will demonstrate. The areas to be covered can now be summed up as "Branding, identity and interfaces on the web".

The website will have to demonstrate this in an attractive and contextual way. Being as most of my portfolio weighs on the side of interfaces, I will base my website around some kind of familiar interface like operating system or DVD menu.

Where it would be ideal to have an intuitive website that users could feel like they're browsing, I believe that a strong contextual metaphor would be a more effective arena for my work.