Position:
Visual Designer, Content Writer, Illustrator,
Responsibilities:
UX/UI Design, Website Designer, Illustrator, Content Writer,
Project Summary
Earlier this year I resolved that I needed a project, something to give me a creative outlet and that would challenge me to learn new skills. I have never defined myself as a writer, but a friend of mine suggested that I start a blog. I love to draw and create things, and so I started brainstorming ideas.
So I created an illustration based writing project. At first, my entire focus was on creating all of the content that would need to go on the site. I had articles to write, illustrations to do, and a schedule that I wanted to get completely laid out before I began even thinking about the design of the website. I am extremely organized, and I also wanted to make the best website I could, so I learned everything that I could and created a media plan.
I started reading everything that I could about blogs, writing, social media, and the best way to go about creating a content calendar. Over time, I created a schedule and incorporated everything that I had learned. Captions, tags, alt-tags, graphics, and schedule date. Creating all of the content was a huge time investment, and creating a cohesive schedule was no different. I got a Hootsuite account and started an Instagram page to practice scheduling.
As time went on and everything began to fall into place, I began thinking more about the website. In my free time, I taught myself basic HTML and CSS and began to get more familiar with JavaScript and PHP and how websites work.
I created a prototype that was clean, minimalist, and would not distract readers from the content and the illustrations. I wanted a site that was very easy to navigate and did not have a lot of options for users to be distracted by. I wanted it to be a grid, and to have a floating navigation menu that allowed readers to sort between the three categories of the site (stories, thoughts, and illustrations). In the primary navigation, there is a ‘start here’ section that briefly introduces the site, an ‘about me’ that says who I am, and a ‘contact’ page. The landing page is very clear and concise.
The layout of the page body is equally minimalist, encouraging readers to focus on the illustrations and the written content. At the bottom of the page, there is an option to read later or earlier articles, and three options for similar stories with visuals.
I had a template that I liked and that I was planning on moving forward with as it aligned with my basic layout ideas, but it needed work. So with some tutorials and a lot of mistakes, I wrote a child theme and built upon the existing template to create a website that aligned with my initial prototype.
