Week 4 Reflection: RISE Peer Feedback

For this post, I will be reviewing my classmate, Jermaine Lockett's Week 3 Portfolio Skeleton. This is to help give feedback to Jermaine on where he can make improvments on his portfolio, in the future, as he adds to it.

Week 4 Reflection: Professionalism & RISE Self-Evaluation

This post is for my Self Evaluation of my months work in Web Design and Communication Theory and Principles for Full Sail University. This is a reflection on my projects and how well I believe my work this month was, and how I can use this knowledge in my career.

Reflection: Project Revision

This week I revised my Week 2 Site Launch Project for Perro Mi Perro Grooming & Boarding's website. This was done so that I could take feedback given to me and apply it to my website, so I have a better understand of how to put a quality website together.

Link to website: http://taylorkearney.wix.com/perromiperroboarding

The first change I made was adjusting my appointment request form to reflect more information needed when requesting an appointment. This is to help the receptionist book the proper appintment in a more timly manner. I added a phone number section, an appointment date and time section, appointment type section, and an appointment details section.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The second part of my site I changed was my Home page. I noticed that when you clicked on the side arrows on the Bring your dog to Perro Mi Peroo Grooming & Boarding section, it would change to a weird photo of a pug and it looked like a bad transition. So I made it so the photo wouldn't change and instead the original photo of the dog would move slightly. I also changed the text from "Opening Hours" to "Hours of Operation."

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The third change I made was in my Boarding & Daycare section. I removed to dumbie text that I mistakenly forgot to remove. This made the page look a lot better and obviously more professional. 

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AFTER:

Project: Portfolio Skeleton

This week we were to create a portfolio skeleton web page, to start our base for our portfolio/resume. This is to help us get a jump-start on our public facing portfolio to get exposure for our work. It's good for us to build a foundation to showcase our skill and we can continue to build on this skeleton as we go forward in our school career.


My porfolio: http://taywickman.wix.com/taylorwickman

Do you feel confident in your understanding of the MCBS Portfolio requirement?

Yes, portfolio requirements are clear and easy to understand. MCBS projects submitted need to be the students best work. This makes it suitable to add to a portfolio to showcase future employers.

Explain how the 1- and 2-star projects you are completing in your MCPP courses contribute to the requirement.

The projects I’m completing contribute to the requirements because they’re applicable to what I’ve been learning in class. These projects reflect my skill and understanding.

What areas of this skeleton site do you feel are the strongest? Why?

I think the strongest area of my portfolio is my Portfolio section. This section showcases my talent. Each photo shows hair and makeup I have done, so it’s great for employers to view and see my work.

What areas do you feel need the most work? Why?

I think the area that needs more work would be a new section that can be labeled “Work.” This should be created to show my Full Sail University projects that are applicable to event planning and make sense for me to add to my site.

Are you proud of what you created here? Why?

I’m very proud of what I created because creating it has shown me how far I’ve come in the last 2 years. It’s amazing to see all the certificates I’ve acquired from Lynda.com and really see all my accomplishments on a web based portfolio.

Week 3 Analysis: Portfolio Inspiration

For this assignment we were to look at three professional portfolios related to the industry we’ll be going into after graduation. For me, I will be expanding upon my current career as a hairstylist and grow into the makeup industry and hopefully own my own salon and create many amazing events.

KT Gal: http://www.ktgalhairdresser.com/

Charlie Brown: http://www.charliebrownhair.co.uk/salon-gallery.asp#17

Julie Fischer: http://www.madeyablush.com/portfolio/

Week 3 Exploration: Digging Deeper With Diigo

For this assignment, we were to review three articles that provide information on how to create a more effective portfolio. Then we were to describe what we’ve gained from these articles.

Articles I read:
Tips for Creating a Great Personal Online Portfolio
Creating A Successful Online Portfolio
Make Sure Your Small Business Website Does These 5 Things

Why did you choose each particular article?

I chose the article Tips for Creating a Great Personal Online Portfolio and the article Creating A Successful Online Portfolio because after I graduate, I need to have a portfolio that I can showcase to potential employers. It’s also great to know these tips for when I create my personal portfolio for hair and makeup, not just my educational projects. I chose the article Make Sure Your Small Business Website Does These 5 Things because I will be starting a small business for my makeup and hair business. Knowing any tips for my future website will be helpful.

Identify 3 points of interest from each article - What did you learn?

In Tips for Creating a Great Personal Online Portfolio, I love that the author suggests to write down goals and then give those goals set values. These values are to help you figure out what task is the most important. The article then suggests sketching out  20 different layout ideas, with pen and paper. I think this is great because it gives you a foundation before you start your work in Photoshop. Lastly, it’s suggested to put your portfolio online as soon as possible when you have a foundation because you can go back to it later to make changes you may want to make later on.

In Creating A Successful Online Portfolio the stress the importance of clarity. They suggest the less is more approach, which is typically in paper resumes. It’s also suggested to use a minimalist scheme because the more information you pack into your portfolio the more likely that information will get lost in translation. Another suggestion is to make sure the navigation of your portfolio is easy. Someone viewing your portfolio needs to be able to view all aspects of the site, easily. It’s also smart to make sure your visual elements aren’t distracting, including the color scheme. The site needs to look inviting, not blinding.

In Make Sure Your Small Business Website Does These 5 Things suggests that small businesses only need to include a minimal amount of information. It’s suggested to include your products, services, what type of company you are, where you are, when you’re open, contact information, an “about you,” and testimonials. Another big item is making sure your website is accessible. This means your site comes up properly when you do a general search in a search engine like Google. The last idea is to keep your websites design simple. It can be overwhelming to a viewer if there’s so much going on within the site. It makes it harder to navigate when there’s a lot of distractions.

How can you apply the insight gained to the portfolio skeleton you are building this week?

After reviewing these articles, I’ll be able to take most of the suggestions given and apply them to my portfolio skeleton. Mostly what I’ve learned is that creating something simple, easy to navigate, easy to read, with visuals that aren’t distracting, is what I need to create. It’s also important for me to make sure that the information I provide isn’t overbearing.

Recommendation article for the MCBS > WDC Diigo Resources page:
Article title: Ten Tips for Successful Event Planning

URL: http://www.buzzbinpadillacrt.com/ten-tips-for-successful-event-planning/

I’d like to suggest this article for those who are in the Media Communications program, some may be considering becoming an event planner, like myself. I found this short list of tips really helpful for event execution.

Week 2 Project: Site Launch

For this weeks project we were to launch a website we created for our fictitious business. I create a website for Perro Mi Perro Grooming & Boarding. This project was to help us learn how to create a professional website and learn how to make this website look clean and clear.

Link to Perro Mi Perro Grooming & Boarding's website: http://taylorkearney.wix.com/perromiperroboarding

Were you able to meet all the provisions outlined in your proposal?

I was able to meet most of the provisions I’d outlines in my proposal. I was unable to link my fictitious businesses website to any social networking sites because they don’t exist. I was also unable to create a portion of the website where clients can creat an appointment. Instead of being able to create an appointment, I was able to provide an appointment request page.

Did you propose or promise something you could not deliver?

Yes, I was unable to create a scheduling assistant for my website in order to let clients create an appointment online. This is actually ok because I don’t think clients would be able to determine the proper service for their dog breed. Meaning, if someone had an Old English Sheepdog, they may just click a service that would be better suited for a small Shitzu. That can cause timing issues for the groomers, so it’s best that clients request appointments online, or call.

What was the most challenging part of the process for you?

The most challenging part of this process was making sure that each page was synced well with the rest of the pages. Making sure that each page had the same or similar outline was a challenge. It was also difficult to upload some photos and make the images that were provided by the business owner, look good.

Where would you like to go deeper?

If I were to go deeper in this project, I would love to learn how to link pages with my request form and also with social media pages. It would be useful to know how to do that, to make the website look a little more modern.

Week 2 Analysis: Site Launch Feedback

For this weeks assignment, Analysis: Site Launch Feedback, we were to view a video which showcases our professor giving past students feedback on their created website for their fictitious company. This was to help us understand what to do and what to avoid for our projects submission. It also helps us become more aware of what we need to look out for when editing our website.

What struck you most about the sites reviewed?

What struck me most about each site was the professional looks of the website. I was also struck by what I was feeling that I liked and disliked about each site as they were being reviewed. I have a better understanding of what I expect of my own website. I was also shocked that it seemed like there weren't enough use of the stock images. I will make sure to use the images given to me for my business. It's also good to know how imprtant brand consistancy is. That seemed to be a heavy topic, so I will make sure to keep that in mind for my project.

Identify 3 specific issues discussed - How will you avoid the same mistakes on your own site?

Three issues that were discussed during this video:

1.     Incorporate focus points higher in on the page.
To avoid this mistake, I will make sure to place any information of significance, higher up on the page and make it stand out more, so it’s a clear focus piece to the viewer.

2.     Make sure that each page is consistent with it’s information, headers, and footer.
To avoid this mistake, I’ll make sure to have all the headers, and footers remain in the same positions on each page, to avoid any confusion for the viewer.

3.     Usability issues.
I’ll make sure that any and all the links on my webpage work.

What do you need to spend more time researching?

I’ve learned I need to spend more time looking at other websites, similar to my companies, to gain a better understanding of what these websites brands represent. Also, doing research on similar businesses so I can gain a better outlook on what kind of content I need to be writing up and adding to my website. I also need to figure out what information is the most important to my viewer, and where I can place that information to make it easily accessible to my viewer.

What will you do differently as a result of seeing this feedback?

From seeing this feedback, I’ll make sure that I’ve provided all working links, no dumbie, text, and a consistent look. Consistency is key! Making sure that the color is synced, the fonts are consistent, text, spelling and grammer are correct, and the headers and footers are consistent. I’ll also make sure that my users don’t have to scroll so much, and navigate everywhere in order to find information they need. Then, I need to be sure that I do not place a dense paragraph of text. Breaking up text with short sentences and bulleted information is really important to creating a clean page.