Week 4 Reflection: Professionalism & RISE Self-Evaluation

This assignment was to help me reflect and understand all that I did this month. Analyzing my strengths and my weaknesses will help guide me for future projects.

Self Eval Rise Model

Week 4 Reflection Project Revision

The purpose of this activity is to pay attention to the corrections suggested by my professor. In doing this I am displaying a understanding of detail that is for the betterment of my client's website.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

In the first set I completely changed the background. I realized the dark background did not give off a welcoming and inviting vibe. I went with a softer version of red. In the second set I changed the tile from Services to Products. This allows the customer to understand exactly where to find what we are offering. In the third set I changed the contact information. I realized having the owners personal e-mail would be bad for business purposes when it came to taking orders and things of that nature due to possible spamming.

Week 4 Reflection: RISE Peer Feedback

This project was designed to help give feedback to my peers in a positive and instructional manner to help them with future success. 

Paula Howard Peer Review

Week 3 Project: Portfolio Skeleton

Do you feel confident in your understanding of the MCBS Portfolio requirement?
I feel very confident in understanding what it takes to create a successful portfolio for myself. This assignment has been very fun and enlightening.

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

The strongest part of my skeleton site would be the main page. I felt I chose a very strong but nice picture to represent myself. I also feel like the overall first impression you receive from viewing my site is that of clean, and understandable work. 

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

I need to figure out a way to make my portfolio come to life a bit more. I think I will try to add more photos and/or a video explaining my vision/mission. 

Are you proud of what you created here? Why?

I am very proud of what I created. I feel like this is something I can forward to future clients/employers that would impress them and strongly consider employment. 

Daryl Coffman Portfolio

Week 3 Exploration: Digging Deeper With Diigo

The purpose of this article is to familiarize myself with creative ways to expand my knowledge of web design and all aspects involved with.

The first article I chose was How to promote yourself without looking like a jerk. My selection of this article was simply based off the title alone. Yet what I found inside the article was amazing as well. The three points I took away were actually three of the main facts the author highlighted in bold. They are as follows...

1. Understanding the true value of self promotion.
2. Focus on facts
3. Demonstrate your expertise with stories.

#1 addresses how to effectively convey what you do and your self worth in a very limited text so your colleagues and managers understand what you bring to a potential company. #2 talks about how you title yourself. For instance if you call yourself a "expert" on a potential subject you need to have proof on why you have acquired that title. #3 helped me understand that If I am to make a point or claim about my brand I need to have a relevant, fact driving story to back it up. All three of these facts will be very instrumental in building my skeleton as sort of a checklist when creating.

The second article I chose was My Portfolio Sucked, Yours Might Too. This article goes in to great detail about how to create a successful and impactful first impression on those who are viewing my portfolio. What I took away from the article is as follows

1. Impress the viewer within the first 10 seconds visually.
2. Do not use thumbnails
3. Make sure all contact information is easy to find and updated.

These three are pretty self explanatory. I really enjoyed how the author broke down the common mistakes by percentage numbers. I found it very interesting that 32% of all portfolios he viewed did not contain a phone number. When building my portfolio I will make sure to have a very accessible and up to date contact info.

The third article I found was 7 Questions for Determining Your Hourly Freelancing Rate. This article I thought was the most impactful for a very honest reason. As I am building my portfolio skeleton I am not only essentially auditioning for a potential corporate employer but also smaller scale direct employees. If my portfolio has information on how much my direct service would cost this could also lead to corporate employment understanding my wants in terms of annual salary. The three points I took away from the article are as follows

1. What kind of expenses do I have?
2. What are other freelancers in my field of expertise charging?
3. What am I comfortable charging?

In essence these three are essentially in the scope. I think if my portfolio contains these important questions it will give the viewer of my portfolio a good understanding of the professional expertise they can be expecting. 

After using the diigo site to find the three article as instructed, I was too also find an article on my own for consideration for further use. The article I found is titled 6 Steps to Creating a Knockout Online Portfolio. The main thing this article hits on is use eye catching images and always showcase work that is in line with what you want to do in the future. I think most portfolios tend to play it safe and after reading this article I will most certainly try to visually test the limits to keep the interest of potential viewers. 

Week 2 Project: Site Launch

The purpose of this activity was to learn the difficulty of building a successful website for a client.

The only provision I was not able to meet was the specific layout. Once I learned how to properly piece a website together I decided to create the layout a little bit different. The most challenging part of the process for me was learning and understanding the site in which I created the website. Once I got down how to navigate their templates it became clockwork for me. I would eventually like to go deeper and not have to use templates. This was a fan project and I hope I can expand on this knowledge in the future.

Holy Magdalena Website

Analysis: Site Launch Feedback

After reviewing this video it really hit home with me on how much detail goes into creating a site. I was also really surprised on how many small things can get overlooked in the design process. The three specific issues I noticed while watching the review video is as follows.

1. Your website should not contain tons of text. Pages with paragraphs of text are visually unpleasant. Most users will simply scroll past the unwanted text. This creates a waste of website space and might even encourage the user to stop using your site. 
2. When posting picture on your website when designing, It is the very vital that all pictures be of the same size. This allows a flow to your design and creates a clean organized feel to your website.
3. If your website includes a location map, make sure your map presents the correct and exact location. "Ballparking" your whereabouts is not acceptable. This is very important for the client I chose this month as it is vital to his mobile food truck success.

I need to spend more time researching how to design a website. I am very comfortable with creating or helping a client find their feel or look for the brand, but it is the actual execution of this website that kind of scares me.

What I will do differently is check each page I create on the website over and over to find any minor flaw. I noticed during the review video that most the websites were created very well but seemed to overlook just minor details. This is what I will try to execute on. 

Week 2 Exploration: Mood Board

The purpose of this activity is to create a visual atmosphere for my client. Allow them to experience the feel of what I am trying to create for them brand wise.

Holy Magdalene Mood Board "Cupcakes for the Modern Woman"

Week 1 Project: Proposal, Site Map, and Wireframe

The objective of this week 1 project is to thoroughly examine all that is needed to perfectly execute the web launch for a small upstart business.

Part 1 Drafting A Proposal

GOALS

1. The goal for this project is to create the most efficient and effective web site possible for Holy Magdalene cupcakes. 
2. The objectives as a web strategist is to complete research on who the target audience is and how to attract them to leave our competitors. We want to examine what other competitors are doing right with their web site and capitalize on that by doing even better.
3. The objectives for this site is to create a web site that is easy to navigate, visually stimulating and easy to understand. Doing these three things should and will drive up profits and help the success long term. 

STRATEGY 

1. To understand how to create and run an effective web site for this type of business I will research all bakery websites within the city and few outside but still in the region. We will examine what they seem to do right and what they do wrong. We will use this info as the base for how our website should perform.
2. My specific recommendation for this business is to align the brand and products with the current popular culture. People of all ages consume cupcakes but the younger generation seems to drive the wants of the industry. Our target audience should be people that are of ages between 15 to 32. 
3. The rationale is that as an upstart if we can get the younger customer to identify or accept our brand as the staple for their cupcake wants and needs we can create a possible life long customer who will the in turn pass down the love for our brand to their potential children.

COST

1. The cost to yearly for a domain for a website can be anywhere in the range of ten to a hundred dollars per year depending on the host and the traffic we generate. 
2. My fee as a web strategist would be $2500.
3. This fee is based on a $25 hour estimate with the theory that I would need somewhere in the range of one hundred hours from start to finish. 

TIMELINE

1. I am estimating it will take me 10 days for the completion of our web site launch.
2. This time aligns with my cost in theory that it will essentially take me 10, Ten hour days to research, strategize, plan and execute this web site properly.
3. Justifying my numbers is solely based on my promise to value your trust in me and deliver an outstanding web site that creates a fantastic online exeperience that will drive up sales and bring life long customers.

NEXT STEPS

1. To get started I am asking for a down payment for my services which is $250. This is ten percent of my web strategist fee.
2. What this business can expect from me is frequent and detailed communication. This will be important for the development of the web site. This business can also expect to not pay the remaining fee until completely satisfied with the website and it is launched.
3. Nothing more is needed at this time but will inform the business as we go along in the process. 

Part 2 Building A Site Map

Home Page

• Image Slider
• Brand Logo
• Social Media feed
• Call To Action

News

• Related Press Articles
• Advertisements and/or Coupons

About

• History of owner
• Q & A about the brand
• Mission and Vision Statement
• Photo and title of all employees

Services

• Description and detail of all services available

Contact

• Email link
• Phone number
• social media links

Other

• Frequently asked questions
• Current location and schedule of future location

Part 3 Constructing A Wireframe

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Week 1 Exploration: Mapping the Modern Web Design Process

After reviewing this Lynda.com course, I realized I didn't have a clue of how detailed designing and running a website for a business would be. I think section 8 really hit home especially fully understanding how to use social media to manipulate how your users find you. I look forward to putting these activities to use.