I based my website design on the basic principles we studied in class: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. I wanted to keep the look clean and professional, so I chose to use a very limited color palette (blue, grey, white and a bit of red). Throughout the portfolio, I made sure that the text was legible by providing adequate contrast and avoiding hard to read color combinations. The most difficult part of the whole design process was coming up with a logo. I had never designed a logo before. My general vision for the logo was to have my name spelled out completely with the Q of my last name being reflected somehow. After a few days of working with InDesign and finally figuring out how to create a colored gradient background, I created my logo. I wanted it to appear on each page throughout the portfolio to add consistency. However the logo design tended to draw the eye away from anything else on the page. In my husband’s opinion it was attractive, but it was also distracting and contextually unsuitable. So, I went back to the drawing board and spent a couple of class periods tweaking the design and creating a more subtle and professional looking logo. The new logo also alleviated certain difficulties I had been having with alignment.

The entire design of my web portfolio was based on the needs of potential users. There is a very basic left alignment and clearly visible menu/navigation bar. I didn’t include lots of extra information—mainly because I was trying to keep it simple (easy to use) and make it look professional. I was imagining my current boss looking at the portfolio and his reaction to it. I included links to previous places of employment (resume and projects pages) in case users were interested in finding out more about them. I also included rollover images in the menu bar to be sure my audience knew they were active links (I am fond of menu/navigation bars that respond to the mouse).

My web portfolio should demonstrate my ability to use InDesign, Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Previous class projects gave me the chance to dabble in InDesign and Photoshop, but using them over and over to create elements of my web portfolio has given me a familiarity and comfort with both programs that I did not have before. Creating a logo—a seemingly simple task—took hours, even days. But I was able to figure out on my own how to use certain features of both InDesign (creating a color gradient, gradient tool) and Photoshop (saving for web, using the unsharp mask). This knowledge will be very useful to me in future classes and future jobs.

As mentioned earlier, I solicited the opinion of my husband regarding the basic design of my first logo. His response greatly affected the finished look of my web portfolio. His assessment was a little hard to take at first, but I realized that he had a valid point: the initial logo design detracted from the content of each page. I also consulted some of my English 3400 classmates regarding the content of my portfolio. Their suggestions and ideas were beneficial. I have proofread and revised the text throughout the portfolio and have viewed it several times in Explorer and Firefox to test the links and check the appearance. For some reason, certain elements of my web portfolio look better in Firefox (resume, projects page) and some look better in Explorer (the menu bar stays in the same place, whereas in Firefox it jumps around a bit).

I included three group projects in my portfolio: the InDesign Instruction Set, the iTunes PP presentation, and the UACD final report. I had positive collaborative experiences while working on all three of these projects. Perhaps the greatest obstacle in teamwork is trying to combine the varying visions each team member has of what the finished product should look like. As a team member, I enjoyed contributing my ideas but also tried to thoughtfully consider the opinions of my partners. I think the goal with group projects is to balance each team member’s best contributions. The projects in this portfolio demonstrate that I was able to work well within a group and contribute to its success. I could have done more to incorporate the ideas of my fellow team members in the iTunes PP presentation. None of us had much experience creating PP presentations and we were a little stuck coming up with a good look for our slide show. So I stayed up late one night and reworked each slide’s layout on my own; the team was pleased with the finished product, but I regretted not having had the time to do the redesign together. I like working as part of a team and the fact that half of the samples in my portfolio are group projects shows that I am pleased with the work I’ve produced as part of a team.

Included in my portfolio is an EPA final project report created by UACD. I consulted my boss at UACD to be sure I could include this document in my portfolio. I also had to indicate that I did not create this document from scratch, but rather used the outline of a similar final project report as a foundation. I also consulted and took information from the project proposal. My work involved compiling required information from reports and proposals previously written by others, writing final evaluations of the project’s accomplishments, and editing the entire report.

For the empirical research report I conducted two interviews with professionals in the environmental science field. I asked their permission before I documented comments they made or views they expressed during those interviews. Both individuals made important statements that I refer to and cite in the report. I also made sure to appropriately document all other sources I used for the report.