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So what was the process to create my portfolio? Which steps did I take to put it online? It was not as easy as I thought it would be, but I want to share a sampling of those steps that I took.

First some disclaimers: Please keep in mind that what I am about to describe is only one of many ways to work down the path of a creative endeavor. Also, these minor essays are intended as short personal studies on methodology and—as such—do not include any explicit instructions in coding. Nor are they meant to be biting diatribes or lengthy ruminations on why the gods created inept web designers. (We are all inept at one time or another.)

Now, as a general rule I try to follow a path toward continued learning and steady research before I get into the actual design and technical aspects of any project. To be honest, I hadn’t realized I followed this path until much reflection in preparation for this series of short entries. (What’s more, it seems I have probably absorbed a methodolgy introduced to me early in my career—more on that later.)

These are the steps as I have labeled them (for now):

1. Gather Information
2. Seek Inspiration
3. Use a Scratch Pad
4. Write the Code
5. Upload the Source Files

Before we begin—no more disclaimers—let me just quickly add here that I found myself playing two roles: that of client AND the other of designer. As a client, I have a message I want to put on the web. As a designer, I need to decipher that message to make the web site into a reality. So this article will refer to me as either I (the Designer) or I (the Client).

Now that the roles are crystal clear, let’s begin.

GATHER INFORMATION

As a designer, my first task is to gather information about what the client wants to do with a portfolio web site. I asked myself that first important question: Why do you want a web site?

ANSWER: My goal was to set up an online space that housed my portfolio, resume, & (eventually) a blog.

The conversation quickly leads to other related questions: What do you want people to do on your site? Which kinds people do you expect to find/use your site?

ANSWERS: I want to be able to point friends, co-workers, potential clients, and future employers to a site where they can see some of my work and get to know me and my thought processes a bit more.

As soon as I (the Designer) obtained solid answers to these initial questions, I (the Client) can begin to explore all the information to put on the site. This curiosity naturally leads to more questions: How much information did I want to share online (privacy issues)? Which work did I want to display online (portfolio)? Then I drew a few boxes on a notepad that indicated information about me, my academic work, my professional work, and some personal projects.

As I studied these four boxes, I realized that three of them were related to work that I had done, which was the beginning of my portfolio.

Plan of action for information

But I also wanted a way for people to contact me, a link to my blog, and a downloadable resume (not necessarly in that order). I drew more boxes.

Adding more boxes to the plan of action

And this is how I structured my portfolio site. It’s not perfect or all-encompassing but it met my original goals. It always comes back to the answer of that proverbial first question. For me it was to set up an online space that housed my portfolio, resume, & (eventually) a blog. And I (as both Designer & Client) feel that this structure met that goal.

I’m sure that later I should need to tweak and reiterate different structures (i.e., “download my resume” could be in the “information about me” section), but for now, I’m happy with this result.

————– UPDATED 5 April 2009 ————–

Here’s an image of the list I found in my notes after the boxes. I think I did this as another way to view the information that would go in the different pages.

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Up next, another short article on the next step: 2. Seek Inspiration.

Tags: basic article, create, first question, gather information, information architecture, Methodology, online portfolio, site structure, web design, web site planning

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 20th, 2008 at 2:04 am and is filed under Methodology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.