Art Directing the Web

There’s a lot of exciting talk lately about “Art Directing the Web”, or basically taking more of an interest in the artistic presentation of content on websites instead of having each boring, bland page look just like the last.

Now, you might be asking WHY this is exciting. Well, for one it will allow me to merge my passion for creative design with the current technologies. And with the big emphasis coming from leaders in the industry, it really is only a (short) matter of time until real change is seen.

AND, since the majority of my prior training has been tailored toward print media, this is allowing me to expand. Industry-wide it will create more of a need for designers in web-related jobs – SCORE!

Having worked with a big content management system in the Air Force that kicked out page after identical page, I think there definitely is a need and a means for creating content that is unique and engaging. Even within the bounds of CMS. It’s about thinking outside the box, experimenting and pushing the limits.

Okay, so that’s all great and all. But, being true to my nature, I always have to weigh both sides. CMS is easy. A monkey can post something online in seconds. And so can a design-challenged person – or even a client, perhaps?

While this isn’t good for me, companies that are looking to do more with less will (and do) see CMS as a way to have a web presence without a lot of web knowledge. It gets set up by a pro, they get a 20-minute training session and then it’s turned over to some grunt to “run”.

Clearly I’m not a fan of this method.

But I can see the appeal for employers who don’t realize that the more engaging their website is, the better their stories will be told. For those who don’t realize that it’s not so much about quantity anymore (especially with the amount of stuff already out there) as it is quality. Anyone can tell the story – and odds are that someone already has. But who can tell it the best? That’s who’s gonna catch the reader.

The web-art direction concept is definitely a step in the right direction.

Email Address Update

Got my email address set up for the new site. You can now reach me at: christie@cjdesignstudio.com

Still nothing on the site yet, but making progress. Slowly, but surely.

Looking Forward.

As I mentioned before, I’m taking a Web Design II class at school right now. Because this is my one semi-creative class this semester, I’m pretty excited about this one. Now, I didn’t take a Web Design I class, but instead have more self-taught myself what I do know with HTML. That, and I’m a wiz at Dreamweaver… lol. But, I digress.

The thing I love about this class is that instead of starting out at the VERY beginning where we’re learning all the boringness about what tags and tables are, I feel like I’m learning stuff that I will actually benefit from. If I’ve missed a little along the way (from the Web Design I class), then that’s where my resourcefulness comes in – aka Google.

Another exciting thing about this class is that most everything I have studied so far has been graphics – more concentrated on the aesthetics and geared toward print design. But when thinking about careers in the industry and the future of where everything is going, web is where I need to be. So this class, and the others that I am lined up to take, are going to give me the skills I need to really put everything I have learned thus far into use. And in a way that will be in much greater demand now and in the coming years.

I am hoping that this class, with its emphasis on mechanics versus aesthetics, will help me become more proficient with raw code. Also, I am looking forward to working with some things that I have little to no prior experience with – CSS, WordPress, etc. Finally, I’m excited to learn about the newest developments in the field, such as the huge strides in social media. And how I can take advantage of those to put myself and my designs in a better position for employment.

Looking at the lesson plan and in talking with the instructor, the class seems to be based on current trends and information, so I am looking forward to (finally!) learning some relevant information that I think will really help me in my career.

Cheers to money well spent!

Home Sweet Home.

Welcome to the new blog that will be home to all my current design work and notes. Previous entries have been moved to this site so everything related can be found in one spot. Enjoy!

Back to School. Again.

Note: Republished and removed from Accidental Inspiration blog.

For one of my classes, Web Design II, we are required to set up a website so we are able to post all of our work for review/testing/etc. Since I was sort of wanting to abandon my old host anyway, I decided to look around a little.

Previously I used Hosting4Students. This was at the suggestion of a past teacher in another one of my classes. It did it's job for the time being, and for now I am going to leave the site in progress (or should I say also abandoned...) that I created for that class: christieann.com. Someday I may come back to it, but for now I just don't even want to mess with it.

Back to hosts... I still have quite a bit to learn about the different options of hosting services, but some of the requirements for the class were that it could handle PHP and MySQL. Another reason I could justify purchasing another host! :)

So I poked around a little bit, but word of mouth is always the best seller for me. Our instructor mentioned that he uses ICDSoft.com. Checked it out -- affordable and seems very universal. PHP and MySQL? Check! And purchased.

I could have just transferred over the domain I guess, but that seemed like too much work for the moment. Instead I started poking around for the domains available... Since this is going to be a primarily work-based site, I thought I would go in that direction. (christieann.com was chosen with the idea that I would later change it to a personal site once I got a work one established.)

First idea was initials combined with some sort of graphic-y reference. After a couple different tries -- cjdesign.com, cjgraphics.com, etc. -- I settled on cjdesignstudio.com. For now that will work. I'm guessing once I'm married (and that's still up in the air... no date set yet) I might want to change that, but for now I'm still clinging to the maiden moniker.

Done and done. Now just to start getting stuff up so I have something to show...