WRITING: MY DESIGN, MY ART.
- Allison McKenna
- Apr 11, 2021
- 2 min read
Designing a website takes a lot of effort in every way imaginable. You must consider the big idea, the small details, and everything in between. You must incorporate thought into not only your writing, but the design and flow of your website as well.
After reading about design and circulation, specifically the three main elements including salience, information value, and framing, I decided to look at Olivia Venuta’s capstone portfolio from a previous year. After an initial glance through her website design and pieces, I noticed how well she incorporated framing into all aspects of her portfolio. For example, she does a fantastic job framing her “Work” and “My Photography” pages. Each piece is separated by the color of the frame/background and it increases the attention drawn to each individual piece. As Kress put it, it is no longer simply about writing down your thoughts and handing it to someone, it is all about how you present these thoughts and ideas. A majority of Olivia’s thoughts and ideas are presented through her photography, and the way the photos sit on the page within a frame brings even more emphasis to them.
One thing I noticed was that Olivia’s “Coursework” page was not in the same framing format as the other pages. I believe if she would have stayed consistent throughout all her pages, she would have had an overall more cohesive portfolio.
As I sit here and reflect upon the design of my portfolio, I am confident that I will incorporate the background framing that Olivia did. I want my pieces to be the focal points of each page, I want them to stand out, but I also want them to be separated as each piece holds a different meaning to me. My work is my design, my art.
Hey Allison,
We went over a lot of this in class but I really liked your analysis of Olivia's website it was pretty on par with my thoughts on the site. It was very organized even though at some points there was a lack of consistency within this organization. I feel as though you look the critique of her website not having enough photos and embraced that within your website which is amazing. I love seeing your personal touches!
As we discussed yesterday, I wish Olivia had integrated more pictures and visuals throughout. I also wished she'd used pictures to tastefully highlight the focus of each piece. However, otherwise, her overall design scheme works well. I like her framing of her pieces. Possibly you could frame each section a little bit differently, but just have a slightly different take on your overall design scheme which is still consistent within the overall design framework so that your portfolio design is still cohesive. However, good point that framing her pieces a little bit differently on one page might detract from the overall design cohesion of the overall portfolio.