Lately
OCT 10, 2014
I thought it was time to log in and make note of my recent activity since I created this site last semester. I am still studying full time at Fresno City College. I have completed my web design certificate and I have the majority of the Graphic Design classes under my belt. Meanwhile, I have entered the web development track and I am teaching myself JavaScript.
I enjoyed a small creative project at the end of last semester, where I developed the theme around my FCC Media Club Poster design. I organized a small photo-shoot where I enlisted the help of some talented students, Derek Bavin, Courtnee Hulsey and Haejin Koo. It was a fun morning's work. My designs from the shoot can be viewed in my updated design portfolio. Incidentally, attending the 2014 Club Leadership Awards at Fresno City College was an exciting event. The New Media Club was awarded Best New Club and Club of the Year.
I still love to make art and I am still painting and drawing. I have some additions to add to my art and design portfolio, including some work inspired by my figure drawing class with Anne Scheid. Anne is both a talented artist and an amazing teacher. I feel truly privileged to have been one of her students.
This summer I divided my time between Fresno City College Tutorial Center and Reedley College. I redesigned the look and feel of FCC Wise and worked on some page designs for Reedley, including an exciting and challenging group project creating online educational material, designed to teach students about matriculation. I designed and hand coded a responsive front page for the Reedley College Tutorial Center's, Tutor Registration System. I enjoyed working with teachers and developers and learned a great deal about integrating PHP pages into database driven websites.
What's now and next? Aside from my full time school and continued work with the Tutorial Center at FCC, I am working on my JavaScript skills, learning all about Wordpress and redesigning this site with a fully responsive theme.
Here is an example of some of my art and design work, put together in a short video for my CIT-15 class:
The Origins of the little Web Chair
I began learning web design about two years ago, when I was put in charge of creating a web presence for the company I was working for at the time. I took a class at the local city college, which taught me how to put together simple web pages in Dreamweaver. The class was heavily oriented to teaching Dreamweaver and understanding design principles but, fortunately for me, our teacher insisted we take a peek under the hood and learn to understand the basics of html and css. I am in love with design. Art and typography are my candy. However, I became fascinated by the workings of the web and in particular the power of css.
A few months after dipping my toes into web design, I completed my first little baby, while I taught myself to write html and css in the code editor of Dreamweaver. This was closely followed by my second little baby, which introduced me to JQuery and got me hooked. I also hand crafted a small website for a local musician, who, through no fault of my own, ran away to Europe soon after. Hence, no third little baby. However, more recently, on her return from singing her way around Europe, she has contacted me and baby number three is soon to be live. Watch this space.
By this time, my ankles are getting wet and I have consumed a number of web design books. I am inspired by the likes of, Dan Cedarholm, Andy Clark, Ethan Marcott, Stephen Hay, Rachel Andrew, and others; I am hungry to learn more. I am up for the challenge and ready to learn from the boys and girls at Geekwise Academy, a great place to hang out and learn code. I am about to complete my time in Bootcamp One, which despite it's intrepid name, has been six weeks of solid fun. I have met some super people, including the likes of Matt Hodge, an excellent teacher, who has also further sparked my interest in animation and I am ready and armed for bootcamp two.
I am determined to enhance my skills and continue to do what I love most; creating and making things that look great and work well. This site has been my most challenging project since I began with my feet in the water two years ago, largely because it is so personal and I know it will be out there for all to see, but also because I am a perfectionist and I know that whatever I produce will be hard pushed to please me. However, it's time to stop teetering on the edge of being a web designer. It's time to get a bit more than my feet wet. This is where I dive into web design. It might get a bit messy and a few sharks might tear apart my code, but I endevour to follow the advice of Karen McGrane. This is my playground. Welcome to the Little Web Chair.
