Week 4 Lynda.com Certification: Writing Articles

Below is a post regarding my Lynda.com certification for Writing Articles.  This class was intended to help educate me in how to write a successful article using the proper tools, communicating with potential employers and how to complete an article from start to finish.

Below is an image of my certificate for completing the course.

The portion I found most beneficial to my career and career goals was following up with the client, interviewee, and other contacts surrounding a project article.  The reason this particular item captured my attention was because he gave some great examples of not only keeping in touch with the client for future projects but how to utilize the article for potential clients.  For example when he said, " If you wrote an article about How to learn a foreign language, you may want to let the Linguistics professor from the local university that you had been speaking with about the article's release."  This is a great ti that I myself had never thought about before.  It is beneficial to utilize projects for your portfolio but it can be even more powerful to allow a possible client to view your work before they are in search of your expertise because they would already be familiar with what you can do.

Week 4 Reflection: Project Revision

The below post is to highlight my revisions to my previous project soft launch for my fictitious client The Holy Magdalena Cupcake Express Food Truck.  his revision was to help make necessary improvements to the website.  My objective was to identify a least 3 items that needed improvement and to take note of the suggestions and pieces that were identified by my instructor as well as my fellow classmate during their critiques of the site.

Below you will find the link to my revised website for The Holy Magdalena Cupcake Express.

The Holy Magdalena Cupcake Express


First let me begin with this was by far one of my favorite projects.  Initially when I began I had no idea where to start.  But as I moved through the site and elements it would take to build it I became very motivated to learn everything I could.  After my initial launch I shared it with colleagues as well as my personal friends and family.  After everyone gave me feedback and I went back to the site several times I began finding more items that I myself wanted to improve upon.  Once I read and heard the feedback from Julia and Instructor Wray it was even more confirmed for me what needed to be added, taken away, changed and edited.

The three items that immediately became apparent from all of the feedback and my own evaluation of the site were, the menu page, the header, and general layout of all the pages.  I changed the sizing of the logo, to my disappointment I could resize and slightly move the logo but because this site was built utilizing the free elements of weebly I was unable to maneuver it very much.  But in the end the general placement and sizing work very well.  After resizing the logo I took Instructor Wray's advice and rearranged the pages to have more of the proper bookends.  The next item that was most important for me was adjusting the menu page.  I immediately got feedback from friends and colleagues stating that they got to the page and were very excited but the were missing what the items were made of, so I added the ingredients and also rearranged the page.  The new layout is much more balanced also it looks more well placed on the page.  I was also unhappy with the layout for the pricing and felt it also could use a bit more information.  So I made the text for "Pricing" larger and a different color to help it standout on the page better.  The next step for me in completing the revision was to adjust all the page layout to be more pleasing to a visitor's eye.  I rearranged the text on the about us page and added a photo of a cupcake to keep with a more consistent layout throughout the site.  I renamed the locations page per Instructor Wray's critique which was a great idea because it shows that day's location on the calender widget.  I also added the disclaimer to every page because weebly did not allow me to add a footer since I was utilizing the free version to build the site.  I did change the accent color, unfortunately I was limited to that template's color pallet so I utilized a color that would compliment the items on the site but still keep with the more masculine feel that the client wanted.  The revision made a world of difference not only in the look but the overall feel of the site.





The following images are before and after screenshots of the site:

Header


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After:

Home page


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After:

About Us


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After:

Today's Location


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Menu


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After:

Week 4 Reflection: RISE Self-Evaluation

The below video post is my reflection and self evaluation of my time during my web design class.  In the video I address what I learned and how I can benefit from the new skill set I now have.

Week 4 Reflection: RISE Peer Feedback

The below post is my peer review for my classmate in my web design class Loren Maxwell.  This review is to help give feedback to my classmate regarding his project as well is help build critical thinking skills for myself when looking over designs.  This tool will help build a good foundation for critiquing my colleagues' work in my future career.

Hi Loren,

First and foremost let me say you did an excellent job with your project.  The general layout was very clean and aesthetically pleasing.  Also it was very easy to use. 

One of the items that I first noticed was the second row of tab buttons.  Was this intentional?  The reason I bring this up is because these buttons appear right under your pages menu.  To me this seems a bit repetitive.  Are you trying to get your client’s customers to be more attracted to those pages in particular? 

If this was an intentional attention to those pages, you may also consider changing the colors in the menu instead of utilizing a second row of tabs.  Changing the color from the other page links will definitely draw attention.  Another suggestion would be to put the extra tabs below the text and utilize some of the extra space at the lower portion of the home page.

Something else I noticed was the inspiration page.  I remember in the critiques our instructor mentioned this page.  I wanted to view it myself to see if I may offer another helpful suggestion to make this page a bit more impactful and relevant for your client.  Since the title of this page is inspiration and the client is known for his ability to remove bandages with as little pain as possible, maybe consider adding links to other forms of helpful health techniques.  Or active links to becoming and living a healthier lifestyle.  Something that would inspire a better quality of life, like a link to “How to eat healthier” or “Having an active lifestyle”.

Overall I think you did very well with your site.  I believe with just a few minor tweaks your site will be very powerful for you client.  I really do think you were on to something with the inspiration page.  If you utilized it for something more closely related to your clients business it would be much more impactful for the site. 

As always you did a great job.  I enjoyed getting more in depth into your project.  I believe your client would be very happy with the final result.

The below link is to Loren’s website:

No-Owie

Thank you,

Felisha Hodges

Week 3 Lynda.com Certification: iPhone Photography

Below is a post for my MCPP class.  This post has a lynda.com Certificate for iPhone shooting techniques.  This post displays my certificate and a brief summary of what I thought was the most beneficial part of the class.

 Lynda.com Certificate:

I really enjoyed the shooting techniques.  It was very helpful in order to capture better images.  I myself love taking photos not just as documentation of my personal life but also as my love for utilizing photography as art.  Hearing the tips to help me utilize my iPhone take better photos is great.  I will take the techniques and be able to create even more art out of my photography.  Also one technique that stood out for me was utilizing headphones to help disguise being a street photographer.  I think that is a great idea.  I have always found that my pictures are much better when they are true life photos.  This is a great way to ensure that your subject does not pose.  I want to be able to utilize my own photos in my design work this course definitely equipped me with more ways to utilize the technology I have available to me to make that possible.

MCPP Portfolio Project Submission: Collins Street Tattoo Digital Flyer Revised

The following post is a portfolio submission for my MCBS Degree program MCPP Portfolio class.
The is a resubmission of my previous portfolio submission.  This resubmission has all of the suggested changes that my professor I make.

Star Rating Sought:

I am hoping to receive a 2-star rating.

Project Description:

This project was to create a digital flyer to help spread the word to the client's customers about their tenth anniversary specials.  The main objective for this project was to create a flyer that contained the special verbiage and store information requested by the client as well as help bring in business.

Link to Deliverable:

The below link will take you to an image of the revised flyer.
The revised Collins Street Tattoo Digital Flyer

Feedback Received:

Initial feedback received from client:

During the process of creating the flyer I had the client select photos and the exact text they wanted for the flyer.  There were two revisions on color and placement of the photos. The image that is linked above was the final product that the client posted to their Facebook as well as their Instagram accounts.  It was my understanding that the flyer did help to bring in more foot traffic than normal.  The initial feedback from the client was that they really liked the final layout of the flyer.

Feedback received from my instructor for first submission:

My instructor stated that the initial flyer's black text made it very hard for the intended audience to read the information and suggested I make it white or a more readable color.  This would make the information more easily read by the client's intended audience.

Resources Utilized:

PI utilized Adobe CS6 Illustrator to design and layout the flyer.  To deliver the final product to the client I emailed a JPEG copy of the artwork. For making the required adjustments I utilized Adobe Illustrator CS6.

Week 3 Project: Portfolio Skeleton

This post is to discuss and showcase my public-facing portfolio site skeleton. In this post I will provide a link to my portfolio site. As well as my answers to the prompts that were given in my web design assignment.

Please find the link to my public facing portfolio website below.

FH Design & Strategy

Below is my reflection regarding my portfolio skeleton.

• Do you feel confident in your understanding of the MCBS public-facing portfolio requirement? 

Yes, I understand why a portfolio is beneficial and crucial to my personal and professional career.  I also believe that I have started creating a very good start to my public-facing portfolio site.

• Explain how the 1-, 2-, 3-star projects you are completing in your MCPP courses contribute to the requirement. 

They provide examples of my abilities and display pieces that a client or possible employer will want to see in order to make their decision to hire me.  Also they may be assignments but they can be good foundation pieces to help with design ideas.

• What areas of this skeleton site do you feel are the strongest? Why?

 I feel that the general usability is strong.  My favorite part of the site is the portfolio page and the skills page.

• What areas do you feel need the most work? Why?

 I believe the resume page needs the most work.  I feel this way because my resume is very wordy and I would like to showcase each item better and with more of a design feel instead of just a plain resume.

• Are you proud of what you created here? Why? 

Yes, because even though it is not quite complete I believe I have a very good foundation to grow on.