Finished Evaluation

Since my last blog I was at the stage of having everything in place and lined up, with a plan to follow. As my original portfolio builder was going to be Squarespace, but I veered away form the bad reviews and lack of customization and decided to go with a new portfolio builder called GetFabrik. This allowed me to follow my Mock flow and Lucid chart as precise as I could. I came into this course knowing nothing about website or portfolio building but now I feel it will play a big part outside of university.

I feel as if I have reached my target and produced a portfolio that I am quite proud of. The design and style is exactly what I was going for, with simple but to the point text, easy to navigate around, as well as straight to the point of viewing my products. The products are shown exactly how I wanted them to look, with a striking image to bring you over to the thumbnail and then the title once you’ve hovered over it. The text and retro style was the only option I didn’t go for in my plan, this was because of my style of logo and ‘neat’ look that my page had, so I felt changing it to a retro look would take away its professional feel, because overall this will be shown to future employers. Get fabric portfolio builder has given me exactly what I wanted, however it was still a difficult progress. 

The way to create my look on Fabrik was something I had to quickly come to terms with. Placing media or changing font wasn’t the hardest part, creating my templates or my about me page was a struggle. The only option I had was to create HTML code’s and make sure I had everything in the right size, I managed to find help in a video and was able to create my about me page on Adobe Dreamweaver. This was the part that I really struggled on, however to create my web pages I used Adobe dreamweaver CS4. To keep a consistent look and feel to the site I used elements defined within the CSS style sheet, the main structure of the page is defined as a 3 column 2 row table with column three divided into 6 rows to make sure that the linked text and images are formatted correctly. the table has row 1 set to ''heading 1'' format text with the other rows using ''paragraph'' format text the border value has been set to 0 to make it invisible and cell padding set quite high (12) to give a feeling of space to the pages. Overall even though my site isn’t the most exciting, I felt as if I didn’t need to much as the main part is to get across who I am and what sort of products I produce, which I feel I have done to a good standard, as I have followed my Mockflow as precisely as I could as well as creating a link to my Tumblr for my blog, this was because the blog option on Fabrik was not the style I wanted, however everything I had down on paper is now on screen.

My About me section draft

From creating a new CV the next step to think about was my About me section included on my portfolio. I wanted to keep it short and sweet but explains what I've done and what I hop to achieve, this was however my first attempt and would need some alteration before I decide on my final piece. I want to explain exactly what I've done up to date, but with a brief few paragraphs that keeps the reader interested, and doesn't seem like it would take 20 minutes to read..

‘An Independent filmmaker based in Cambridge/Leeds, originating from a family passion and taken further on to two A-Level college courses of media & film Studies. Once he’d gained the knowledge and excitement of media, university was the next step. He Studied Broadcast media studies at Leeds University and has never thought about chasing a different career path. 
He likes to experiment with filmmaking and believes that you can never stop learning. He always pushes himself as far as possible and has a sick work ethic. He doesn’t turn off. He is a confessed geek and has a great self-taught background.

During his university years he has had the opportunity to explore a wide range of skills and techniques for every area in broadcast. Ranging from editing, cinematography, motion graphics and all the way to live studio broadcasting. He has produced various types of products from documentaries to music videos, and has acquired a few clienteles whilst at uni Producing videos for corporate company’s aswell as nightcl His wide range of influences have all found their way into his work and is trying to learn everyday. ‘

CV Revised

After the lecture and workshop today I realised my C.V needed some drastic changes and was not appropriate or suitable for my type of work or placements i would be applying for. After proof reading my old C.V the sections that needed changing was the first mission statement as well as including a skills part. I would blend them two together and have them in a split paragraph format as the employer should see my skills and what I have to offer straight away. The main task was to change my work experience to previous projects and to show the range of video i can achieve and different types of work i have learnt over the years.

I used some guides in on CV's from the guardian and other sources to help me plan out and think about the right areas to cover, as well as how to layout my CV in the 'correct' way.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/sep/12/cv-clinic-film-production

http://career-advice.monster.co.uk/searching-for-jobs/job-advice-by-industry/what-makes-a-good-film-cv/article.aspx

Since going over my resume or CV, I've realised keeping up to date and changing my CV for the type of job I apply for will be crucial in the near future. After going over my first draft with all the correct work experience, I then decided to minimise it even more, as i feel a normal CV should have two pages and should not be a long winded read. I feel I've covered the main points and highlighted as many strong points as possible but a CV can always be improved. I plan to gather more help from tutors or outside help and get my CV proofread or re done after I've had some feedback. The next step to consider is my about me paragraph I feel now after re reading it doesn't sound as perfect as it could be, I'm struggling to find what i really want to say in a brief paragraph, summing up my portfolio and condensing it down is what I'm finding difficult. I think the short bio of yourself is key to showing what type of person you are and could reflect on decisions from employers. I feel Condensing my writing into short but to the point sentences is my next task.

Here is my revised CV

Social Networking

Twitter is an online social networking service and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as "tweets".

Twitter was created in March 2006 and the social networking site was launched. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with over 500 million users as of 2012, generating over 340 million tweets daily and handling over 1.6 billion search’s per day. Since its launch, Twitter has become one of the ten most visited websites on the Internet, and can be described as the SMS of the Internet.  

I Previously owned a twitter account, that I made a couple years ago and have neglected it ever since. This workshop was beneficial to reopen my twitter account and start to give it a fresh and professional look. As I now know when going to apply for jobs or internships, social networking sites may come up in my profile or CV. Now when I want future employers to go for me, I would like to have my twitter as my professional social networking site. After resigning in I deleted all of my previous pointless pages I was 

following and decided to re-do it.

 

After adding pages such as BBC News, Leeds Met etc, I was then ready to change my profile and bio about myself. After re shaping my twitter and following hopefully future employers, I then decided to use the two Twitter tools to help me track my tweets/trends, to keep track of each page. Tweetdeck was great for sub categorizing my timeline to my tweets etc, and was very organized to see whether my page needs changing or friends tweets deleting or those sort of situations you could end up in. And then the other Tweetscoop app I used was beneficial to follow the ‘news’ of twitter and how each page is developing during the day.

Overall social networking is a big part of our social life and is around us everywhere, so it will make me realize of what I should actually be sharing or wanting the public/employers to see.

 

Copyright: Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is a non profit organization  headquartered in the United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as creative common licenses free of charge to the public. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they need for the benefit of other creators. An easy to understand one-page explanation of rights, with associated visual symbols, explains the specifics of each Creative Commons license. Creative Commons licenses do not replace copyright, but are based upon it. They replace individual negotiations for specific rights between copyright owner and the license holder, which are necessary under an "all rights reserved" copyright management with a "some rights reserved" management employing standardized licenses for re-use cases where no commercial compensation is produced by the copyright owner.

It has content that you can freely and legally use, there is a giant pool of CC-licensed creativity available to you. There are hundreds of millions of works from songs and videos to scientific and academic material. The combination of tools and users is a vast and growing digital commons, so much content can be copied, distributed, edited and built upon, all within the boundaries of copyright law. Copyright infringements make it hard legally to copy, paste, edit, source etc. creative commons provides a free, public and standardized infrastructure. The tools on the website give the user a simple standardized way to keep their copyright whilst others may have certain uses of there work.

One way I could easily find creative commons videos or content was searching for the CC logo, on any sort of creative platform, such as Flikr, Flikr has a search bar and options that you can narrow down to strictly Creative commons videos and would have the rights to download, edit, copy etc. and include it in my own work or share it further into the internet world. CC can be used for multiple options on your content, either video, graphics; websites etc. there are various license options that can be used for various content. Overall CC helps you copyright your work and still have it use and seen by everyone and anyone across the web.

After choosing my license i then decided to add it to my recent upload of Set 120, this was part of my other project and can link in with how we wanted to get our videos out on the web. i started by choosing the license that I wanted to include, however Youtube is now a partner with creative commons and can give you the option to a public license, one that everyone can share and use your video. My first upload of the set120 Duke Dumont video was not responding to my creative common license and I could not work out why. After going onto my uploaded videos i could then see a option in the left hand side saying 'copyright notices' once i had uploaded and embedded my creative commons license, the notification of copyright then came up and had third party licensing, I didn't really know what this was at first but once clicking onto it and looking at my license it then told me the third party license was there because of the music that was included over the video. This meant because some of the content was not mine to use I could then not include my creative common license and have it as shared content. After realising this and having no CC or person logo on the end of my video, I then decided to upload an old piece from last year of my horse racing news story, this was because it was all my own content used. After uploading the video and using the creative commons drop down menu in the youtube set up, I was then ready to include it and have my work out in the world to use by anyone. After realising the troubles you can have with copyright and different factors that can lead to problems in the future. It seems a topic no one wants to think about but can be specific and helpful in the long run.

Mind Map & Colour Scheme

My mind map to me is a drawing board for all my ideas and options on my portfolio. I have included all the basic ways for my portfolio, such as Blog, projects about me, these all were my starting points for what content will be included on my portfolio. these were straight forward with types of work that would be included so a list of projects i needed to recover or complete, and the style of tumblr and blog i would be using. I could then start to map out the parts of my portfolio that i had only started to think of such as colour schemes, logos, text. and since creating this mind map i have started to realise that I want to keep my portfolio with a simple look with minimal colours and spaces on the page, however i would also like that retro/vintage look to the text or my logo which would be my name. Overall Mindomo was a really great starting basis to spread out all my ideas and actions going to be taking forward with my portfolio.

Colour Scheme 


From my previous planning and what I had spoke about earlier my next piece of planning was to decide on my colour scheme and theme of my portfolio. After deciding I want to use Squarespace and try to fund my portfolio, i then think my layout and colour scheme should look right for the type of layout. Keeping in mind I want to use quite a simplistic look with maybe a retro feel, such as typography, although a portfolio can always be changed whenever. The step i took to deciding about colour was using adobes kulur website and going through all the right sets of colours that could be my portfolios theme. After going through the set up colour themes and thinking I would rather create my set manually. The two final colour schemes i have picked, one is a purple monochromic set that goes through the purples on the same line, with different grades of dark to light. This I feel would give the retro look I would be going for with text as well as to go with a black or white back drop. The next set of colours were more of a light blue/turquoise set, this was done with the grades feature and would take the nearest shades of blue on the same level as the base colour. I felt the blue would be more complimentary on the black or white back drop, however the purple could be more striking. Now i have my colour schemes laid out I can start to include it to either my Mockflow or start to mix up my template once I have chosen it. The colour ill more likely take forward will be the purple, however everything can change in design.


Purple Monochromic

Blue/Turquoise Gradient

Planning my Portfolio

Since Starting this module, we have been working to create our own personal portfolio to take with us outside of uni and hopefully carry them on to create a very professional site. Since starting we have looked into planning the actual site and how the outline or style it will look like. I know what features i want to include and what work will feature on it. As we've been looking into the more technical and physical side of the portfolio, I havn't actually looked into the core detail. I started to use as many planning tools or sites to help me achieve this. this meant going into more depth or personal touches such as Logo's, Text, Colour scheme etc. all of these parts add up to create my own personal space, this needs to represent myself and my preferences.

Rememberthemilk.com

To start my planning i used remember The Milk, which is a online to do list. This simple form of planning has helped me to set weekly achievable goals and gives me some structure of how i will go about completing this module. The way i broke it down was setting weekly targets that i can possibly achieve if i stay on task. i tried to break it down as simple as possible, with all areas covered such as logo design, gathering footage etc. all of this has helped me to list all the jobs i must carry out. this basic planning platform was simple yet effective to use and was great how you can set dates of completion, or make a task more important than one other. The simpleness to this page was also its downfall as i felt after listing my tasks I needed to talk and discuss about them a bit more to really give me some aim.

Springpad.com

After going from my to do list I Needed to categorise my to do list with more detail and actually research into some of my goals. This was when i decided to use Springpad, after watching a brief tutorial and a few reviews, I decided to take my finding into Sproingpad. Springpad's a great online notebook to use and store all your findings, its simple to use and looks alot like word but in a neat little note book, The way to use it is to basically just store all your notes and finding in a structured and efficiently way. It was easy to include links and pictures and was actually quite a good way to style my own work. It seem to almost be like using a blog but can scroll through page after page, I can keep up to date with my to do list and go into more detail on this site. Using this has come to make me realise what type of typo i want, aswell as start to focus down on which website builder i was going to use, which colours could work well together and so on. Overall both have had a benefit to starting my planning, however i need to put this into action rather than constantly planning.

After using a lot of planning apps and having every task i need to complete this module, I could then start using Springpad and my personal notes to now start using them into my real portfolio and start to think and piece together the exact look and feel on my site. Since a lot of planning has gone into this product, plus I like my products to look exactly how I see it. This means deciding on my portfolio site and after reviewing a few a couple weeks ago, I then decided to look at website builders as a whole. I felt as if the crucial part to this module was choosing a site builder that can achieve everything i have in my notes and can show off my portfolio to the highest standard. One piece of information I found rather helpful was almost a chart for all website builders and said everything they had to offer with simple yes and no answers. As you can see from the chart that most sites vary with each other. However i had narrowed it down to two website builders. One was Wix.com which for my look and feel as well as use comes out at a high level, and the other site being Squarespace.com a very intelligent looking builder with high level of good reviews. Once looking into the two the one I'm more drawn to is Squarespace.com this was down to templates and the feel it had to the website, also after a few video reviews I have seen it just seems the right match to what my notes and Mockflow look like. Squarespace seemed like a sleek and sophisticated website builder with lots of room for customization. With reviews calling it the best for blogs, portfolios sites and designers it just seemed the right website for what I need to achieve. Although theres a cost I'm willing to spend the few dollars to have a respectful portfolio.

Site Maps

Today we looked into ways of creating a mock up websites and ways to plan out everything you want to include. there were a few websites that we looked into to create our plan and outlines. the two websites we looked into were:

www.mockflow.com
www.lucidchart.com


LucidChart

The first step was creating a plan on lucidchart which was where i could make my plan of all the stages to create my portfolio. This was a great start to give myself ideas from scratch and make out some order of how my website will start to look. LucidChart is a really great planning website thats helped me to understand my own layout. Using this planning tool helped me to start from scratch and start to see how my portfolio would flow, and can also tell whether or not it works, as in some areas after planning them out needed changing as in to where they would go. Since using it i can start to realise I want a very simple but effective portfolio. three main areas are my projects, about me and my blog. I could then put each sub category in to the right part of my site. Overall the simple drag and drop with connective arrow tools helped me to plan my portfolio and was a great way to start from scratch.

MockFlow

The next website was Mockflow, this website was to help you try to piece together your outline and plan for your website. The website was really simple to use, with drag and drop options and quite a range of outlined pieces you would want to include on your site. it gives you the start you need to try and piece together whats in your head and helps you to see whether what you've chosen is effective or not. I was able to create my simple portfolio and where i want my options or projects to be placed and so on. Since starting my piece on Mockflow i've come to  realise how each part will look and where it will be placed, i want a simple but effective 3 options, and each part will have an effective project in a large proportion with my other projects below it. Overall it was a great stepping stone and good start to picture my site, although it wasn't able to properly show me how it would look and was difficult to decide on colour etc. but was a great tool to start me off.

Overall using both websites has been a massive help to understanding formats and layouts or structures for my planning but as well as educating myself on new pieces of software online. one main factor into using this is to get everything stuck in your head onto paper or a screen. The Lucidchart was a high quality planner that has only helped me decided on all the content and specifically wehat parts they'll all be included in. And then the Mockflow was the best website i could have used to get my head around understanding what goes where and what styles I was trying to think of in my head. As i had listed all parts to include in the website and where, I also had the chance to think of quality of work and which products of my own will be inclued. I need diversity in my products to show the versatility of what i can achieve. overall with all of the above to consider, I feel my Mockflow has helped me understand web layouts and all the factors leading towards a good portfolio.

Portfolio sites

Service 1  Name: Weebly.com	Rating out of 5
Video Support	4
Audio Support	4
Email Forms	3
Social Media Integration	4
Text Editing Tools	3
Blogging Tools	4
Cost	5
Customisation	3
Choice of Themes	4
Ease of Use	4

Service 2  Name: About.me	Rating out of 5
Video Support	2
Audio Support	2
Email Forms	3
Social Media Integration	5
Text Editing Tools	5
Blogging Tools	2
Cost	3
Customisation	4
Choice of Themes	3
Ease of Use	3

Weebly.com

Weebly's well organised interface made it easy to see at a glance what weebly would have to offer as a site builder. It has a series of menus across the top for easy access to its key features. a simple drag & drop is all it takes to add text, images or forms to your weebly website. At a first look, the weebly website seems like nothing special. It's a simple uncluttered and easy to use, and thats exactly what id be looking for, however it does seems slightly simple with little creativity, for someone with limited set of skills to create their own internet presence.

Weebly to mee seemed fairly limited at first use, as I want to focus on design support and weather the website will be able to achieve the look I want. the template variation was alright but more can always be better, and most just seemed to blocked, or not the right look I was going for. Although you can change around a lot of the website the lack of widgets and features to add to your website shows. however weebly balances the ease of use and flexibility effortlessly. For example when i went to sign up and try the features it took less than a minute to start choosing and constucting. the standard drag and drop feature or editor is what stands out, with its easy function the editor has a habit of showing you only relevant options on screen, such as when i went to edit an image it only showed me what i needed to see. As it did show me the right options and was a simple walkthrough of getting to know the program, I just still didn't enjoy the lay outs or maybe the to simplistic options, all though it was fun I didn't see it very challenging.

One bit of information i  did find out was Weebly is the only major website builder to offer a separate iphone app to help manage your website on the go. The app isnt a full website builder, its more of a selection of features thats helpful on the go. The app was a good little feature and can understand why you cant use the full features on a phone as that seems to take away the point of a website builder.

About.me

This is a site that enables you to create a special page that brings together all your social media profiles, blogs and online galleries. You get to be the decider and choose what you share with the people who visit your About.me page, so you can either have a very corporate looking portfolio for work with your google+ account and hide your Facebook or twitter, same goes for more of a personal non corporate one. About.me when i first went through the website I came to realise you have a great deal of control over how the finished result looks. You're able to add your own background photo, change fonts and decide where the main navigation box will appear on your page. I felt you could easily gain a stylish easy-to create web design thats suitable for both professional and personal use, however I'm not sure if it's given me enough to make it my chosen platform.

The most noticeable feature is the ability to upload a large high quality photo to act as your background for the site and enter a small amount of information about yourself. You can drag the main box with your text and links around on the page to it in just the right spot on the photo. You can also add links and feeds from other services like my Facebook and Twitter account. It appears About.me is a great place to create an 'About me' on the internet. the features or lack of features doesn't really make about.me a great portfolio builder. One good factor would be creating one and then leaving it until you wanted to go and change your information. I feel another website where i update information about myself is the last thing I need, except to include all my professional social sites could benefit myself. I could see maybe this website helping similar job hunters create a sort of online resume, as we've know most employers nowadays could look at your online profiles and its better to have a cultivated story of who you are rather than what pops up on google search.