Every end<tag> is a new beginning

Hello and welcome to the first blog post of my new blog.

To kick things off here is a little about my schooling and a creative project I have been working on for the past half year.


The last three years have been a roller coaster ride to say the least. I am a husband, father of 4 children, a church man with callings in the LDS faith and a full time Graphic designer at the Deseret News. So when I chose to return to school to finish up my Bachelor's degree at the University of Utah, I added one more heap-load of responsibilities to the pile. The challenge of finishing my schooling was daunting. I was a man being pulled in five different directions at once. At times I felt stuck as I took classes that I felt, at the time, were completely useless to my future. You know how it feels to to move through water– slow motion. That is about how 60% of the classes felt at the U. The bright exceptions were classes having to do with design and graphics. Those classes seemed to fly.

University has some fun classes

Most enjoyable were the classes involving web design. I gained an incredible beginners working knowledge of how to code and design a responsive web site. My teachers had years of industry experience and genuinely cared about whether we succeeded in learning the code and principles in designing a site. I was in no way the best student in these classes, but I learned enough to get jump-started on a project I have been meaning to get to for a long time.

The Old Site

Beginning August of last year I began redesigning my personal web site. The old site used 1990s methods of html structuring. (Tables, GASP!). Essentially it was a store front for my art, Static and not all that great. On top of this I didn't have the first clue about CSS when I designed and put it together. I used a wizzy wig open source site-designer called Kompozer. Never looked at the code too closely, but I'm pretty sure all the CSS was integrated with the HTML. Yah, wasn't much of a coder back in the mid 2000s. Not saying I'm that great now, but you can compare the old and new site's code– Like night and day.

New plan

When I began planning my new site I focused on a few key questions:

1. What will the primary purpose of the site be?
   Answering this question would set the stage for all other decisions to be made on the site. I decided that first and foremost I wanted this to be a living breathing portfolio and resume. I wanted to show potential employers what I am capable of in Web, Print, 3D, illustrative and graphic design. Secondarily I still wanted this to be a portal from which people can access art for sale and services I can render
2. How did I want to change the visual appearance?
   I wanted to create something fresh and more modern, while maintaining a feel of simple beauty.
3. How did I want the site to react to different sized screens on different devices?
   Obviously I chose to take a responsive approach to accommodate everything from a large-sized desktop screen to a tiny smart phone. Answering the specifics of this question is far from easy.

Brain storming

As I do with most design projects, I started by sketching and writing down ideas on good old fashioned dead tree sheets (paper).  This is a good way to start any art or design project and get some  initial ideas out my head. Helps keep the paper industry afloat too.

Brainstorming also helped me answer question #1 above. I didn't really know for sure what I wanted to do with my site. I even questioned whether I needed a personal website at one point. What tipped the scales for me was my new skills in coding and web design. I wanted potential clients and employers to visually see and experience my abilities. Anyone can set up a Wordpress or Blogspot site, throw images on board and  call it good. Not for me. I felt that showing people I was invested in something I personally coded was just as important as displaying a bunch of images and text. My hope is this will carry more weight with employers and clients. For the sake of absolute truthfulness, not every line of code is mine. The image slider and hover effects on the thumbs were coded by other people, and they are credited in the footer of my site. But the content, look and responsiveness are all mine.

Rough

After brainstorming I made a few rough sketches of the site on paper. I didn't dwell too long on roughs. These were to be a starting point for the visual appearance and functionality of the site.

 

Style tile

 Before diving into the mockup I felt exploring fonts, colors and general styles would be beneficial to the whole process. I generated a style tile in Illustrator that would reflect in many ways a general look for the site. By no means was this what the site ended up looking like. I deviated from this in many ways. But a style tile can be a nice guide as the design evolves.

 Mockups

I spent a good deal of time in this part of the design process. I developed mockups in Three major screen formats: Desktop, tablet and mobile. Additionally I experimented more with color, creating three mockups with three distinct color schemes. After some deliberation I ended up deciding on the color scheme that is most similar to the old site. I am still not satisfied with the colors of my site. I often wonder if the site is too gloomy because of the dark blues. But then I think about how a primary theme of much of my art has to do with a light that shines in darkness. In short I chose a dark theme so more focus would be placed on the art pieces(light) of the site. I will continue to explore different color schemes, and perhaps change things up some time in the future.

Time to code

I won't bore you with copious details of all I went through to get this coded. Ultimately the successful coding of the site is due in no small part to three Web design classes, teachers, brothers and online resources. Overall the most difficult part  of coding would have to be the responsive aspect of the site. Coding for multiple sized screens is a huge challenge in planning and execution.

Every end is a new beginning

 At long last, what you see at ATcreation.net is the result of much learning, planning and doing. Putting things in perspective, this site really isn't much. ATcreation is a portfolio and gallery. What it represents is my desire to show off, to express, and an incentive to show the world what I can do.

Eventually title 'creative' is something I would like apply to myself. Not just a person that creates things that are original or unique; but someone that is recognized as a deeply spiritual, deeply emotional and deeply human. If no one else, I want to effect my children and those who know me. This site represents a possibility of doing just that. The major construction of the site is at an end. A new stage in being creative, in becoming a creative begins. I look forward to it all.