Conclsuion

Overall, I'm very happy with the final outcome of this project. As much extra time as it took, I'm happy that I first started working in iWeb and then moved to Wix, this allowed me to get a basic design together which  I could then work from and improve. I also think that my work looks good in the website, and works well with the style to create a professional feel throughout. I also think doing a lot of research at the beginning of the project helped to get my ideas flowing and gave me a rough guideline of what was needed and what wasn't need in my site.


If I was doing it again I think I wouldn't have focused on dreamweaver at all, which would have hopefully have given me more time to get better with Wix.


My Website: http://www.wix.com/bennettjck/portfolio#!

Edit

I switched around the left hand side in the end. I think now that it's  lot easier to see the details and read then whilst not too distracting from the artwork on show.

Contact

This is another page that I really like, I'm also really happy with the work that I've put on this page, and although contrasting in style to much of my work, I think it still fits in with the style of the website. I think though, that I need to take a second look at the layout of the page, as on the left hand side, I think it might be more important for my information to be at the top, rather than at the bottom as the last thing you see.

Portfolio

My portfolio page is my favorite page in the site. The simple grid system makes it easy to view the work, I also clearly labeled each section to also help make it easier to find and view my work. Also above, I've included an image of what you see when you click on one of the grid squares. I really like the chunky navigation system on the viewer, as it helps to break the viewed image up from the background images.

About

This is my 'About' page of my site. At the moment its fairly short, but as I move further along in my career and get jobs in the industry, this part of the site will become more part of a resume, listing the companies and games that I've worked on. I'm really happy with this page, the simple layout allows the audience to absorb the information and enjoy the artwork. This is also a good page, as the work is easily changeable with a new artwork, which will keep my portfolio look fresh and new.

New Home Page

This is the new homepage for my website, the first page that the audience comes to when viewing my site, because of this I decided to leave it as a single artwork, and I will keep it updated all the time with my new work. This way old visitors to my site can also see my new work straight away. I really like this new style for my website. The simple black, grey and yellow colour scheme keep it looking professional, whilst also maintaining the focus on my work. I'm really happy with how this project is going, and I am looking forward to doing the other pages.

Wix.com

I found Wix very similiar to iWeb, apart from everything in Wix worked a lot easier. I began to play around with the software and get used to the two ways in which you can edit your site. I started to then put in parts of my design from iWeb into Wix.com, but it didnt work as well and I had fallen out of love with the design so began again on Wix. I wanted to make a website like the ones I had researched, that were simple and easy to navigate and the work was well laid out and clear.

iWeb Finished

After completing all the pages, I linked them all up and began to test all the new links. As usual there were a few iWeb standard bugs, but most was fixed easily. However as I looked through the website, I was really not happy with it, I wasn't proud of it, which isn't a good thing as its what I'm using to present my work. I carried on looking over the site, finding more and more things I didn't like about it, until eventually I took a break. I asked a few of my classmates how they were doing it and most said they were thinking of using iWeb however, one of them refereed me to a website called wix.com which is pretty much like an online iWeb with better design abilities. I started an account and began to have a play with the software.

Essays

I also included some of my essays on my site as it might help to round off my image as a game designer. However I soon realised it just ended up with lots of pages with lots of text on them that not many people will want to read or have the patience to read.

Update

The audience would eventually get to a final page that would show the portfolio piece, however when done it would mean that they would have to press the back a couple of times to get to a new section which I think is too much time wasting. On the bright side I do like the simple layout and think it works well to present the work and focus attention on it.

Update

These are the pages that show my portfolio work, however the viewer would then have to click again to see the full bigger image, which I think would definitely become annoying after a while. However, I think the overall layout looks good, well presented and grabs the eye by looking interesting. I'm really happy with these pages, but I would much prefer it if the images got bigger when hovered over.

iWeb so far

Although iWeb is simple and easy to use, it is also very basic, so some of the things I wanted to try and do, like drop down menus weren't available. I decided that the best way to get round this was to have one page with all the separate parts of my portfolio on it and then have them all link off to separate pages with work from each section on it. I didn't really like this idea as it seemed an outdated way of doing things, I also didn't like it as it ruined the professional feel that I was going for.

Work so far

Being used to using iWeb I found it very easy to start the project and get some work created quickly. I was very happy with the welcome page and thought that it could be the start of a possible business card design. I also thought it was well presented so gave the website a professional feel straight away, which is something I want to try and get the whole way through the website. From here, I need to decide what pages I want on my website, and what work I'm actually going to display.

Start of Design Work

After looking at a number of different portfolio websites, I started to get an idea of what I wanted to do with my website. I wanted to keep it plain and simple, making it easy to navigate and to find things. I also want  to display my work in a grid pattern that is clearly labeled. With this in mind I began work on putting it together in iWeb.

Ben Shore

Ben has been credited on some major games, including both Bioshock games and Darksiders 2. All of the work that Ben displays on his website is very good, and I like that he's divided it up into 2D and 3D as it makes it much easier to find and view. However I find the overall feel of his website a bit old and outdated in style. I think its simple and easy to use and has very few links like many of the other sites I've looked at, but I just didn't enjoy viewing it as much as some of the others.


http://www.benshore.com/index.htm

Michael Chapman

Michael Chapman's Website Portfolio is one of the best looking I've seen. As soon as you land on his homepage you instantly hit with a very professional looking website that has his own artistic flair. I really like how he's managed to break it down into two links, which I think works well to keep peoples interests. I also like the break down of his work into different section, which makes it easy for employers to see his range of skills. I also like how he's included some of his early sketches on his website which works really well along side the final image.


I'd really like to have some of the qualities from this website in my final design for my own website. I like the simplicity of it which helps to create a very professional feel.


http://yourprofolio.com/mctchapman#!prettyphoto[1]/1/

Rainer Petter

Although Rainer's portfolio website is very well presented and the work displayed is very good, I don't find it as easy to view and as professional in feel as some of the other websites I've looked at. Once again he uses a simple grid pattern to present his work which is displayed on the first page making it easy to find, however I didn't like the fact that once an image is clicked on you are taken to a page that just presented that image again and nothing else. I felt like I wanted to see some of the initial sketches again.

However, Rainer also kept his website very simple with very few links, keeping it easy to find his contact details if I was a potential employer.

http://www.rainerpetter.com/

Ola Sundberg

Disenjo.com is the online portfolio website of Ola Sundberg. Ola has spent most of her career working as a character artist for an online games company called Net Entertainment, which mainly focuses on gambling games. However she also spent some time as a graphic designer working for the menu of battlefield 2142. I really like Ola's website and is a very good likeness for what I would like my website to look like. The simple grid system she has used to display her work makes it look very neat and professional, whist also being simple to access her work. I also like the fact that its been well divided into types of work such as 2D and 3D. I also really like the simple light grey colour scheme that works well to keep the focus on her work.


Ola's website also has very few links, which are also very similar to that of Thomas Mahler's website. I think this is something that I need to take notice of in my website design. Having very few links, means that the focus is kept on the work and also makes it easy for an employer to find your details.


http://www.disenjo.com/

Thomas Mahler

I really like Thomas Mahler's online portfolio website. Thomas has worked for a number of big companies such as Blizzard entertainment and whilst there worked on big titles such as Starcraft two. Although most of his work is 3D I think it is a good example of a well presented neat portfolio website. I really like how his work is set out in a simple grid template and is the first thing you see, so it has an instant impact and is easy for the viewer to find. I also like how there's only free links on his website, which make it quick and easy for any potential employer to find his work and then contact him.


The one thing I think that the site is missing is when clicking on the image all you see is the full version of that image, I think it would be a lot more interesting to see some preliminary sketches alongside the final image.


http://www.thomasmahler.com/

Intro

I originally started this project wanting to make my website in Adobe Dreamweaver, so I started to watch some tutorials on how to design and create a website using the software. The designing of the website was still done in Adobe Photoshop, but this would then be transfered into dreamweaver and be transformed into a website from there. After watching a number of video tutorials, I realized that dreamweaver was a lot harder than I thought it would be to learn, especially alongside trying to learn gamesalad for the other project. This is when I made the decision to switch to iWeb. This would allow me to make a working mock up of the website I would like to have made in dreamweaver. I could then come back to these designs when I had time to focus on learning dreamweaver.


With this decision made I began to do research into other designers portfolio websites, in the hope to get some ideas for my own website as well as to get some idea of industry standards for portfolios.