typefasterjoel

Version Très: The Case Study

Posted under: Case Studies by Joel

Snapshot of Version 3 of Typefasterjoel.com

It seems like just yesterday, I held my Portfolio’s bottle… Now is all grown up to Version 3.

This new version of my portfolio breaks all the boundries from the past and also is a new milestone for me. The portfolio offers many new features, that I have tried with clients/personal projects, but never to a scale like this. Some of the features include:

· Fully CSS3/CSS2 Tableless Expandable Design
· Javascript Framework: jQuery.
· AJAX Form

As if this were not enough, this also pushed my limit on how well can I code what I design? Well I reached that goal that no matter what design, there is always a way to code it.

But how did I get to this Design? I follow 1 simple process. This process consists on the following steps:

1. First, I gather all the information that I want to use on my website and ask me the following questions: What Do I want to show on my Website? My Skills? My Personality? Both? It seems to me that the obvious answer was “Both”. As an Employer or Client, you wish to know what are my set of skills and what type of person I am. Well my Goal was to give you the best of both worlds (No Pun intended).

2. Secondly, I grab a few keywords from my personality and my skills. The most words that represent who I am and my skills and the way I work, started standing out most: Dynamic, Colorful, Vivacious, Interactive.

3. After selecting those Keywords, I pass on to design…on paper! Preparing a few sketches, started out as a “boxy” layout with information around it. Boring, simple and overly done. I said to myself: “No, I need something that will challenge me”. Thus, the clouds of brainstorm appeared and a design was born.

4. After a refined Sketch was made, I passed on to Illustrator and Photoshop. I used these tools to create the various elements you see on my portfolio.

5. Finally a Mock-Up Site is made to ensure that all the measurements were correct.

6. Then, a focus group of close friends and acquaintances, get a sneak peak on what I’m doing and gather their input.

7. Few tweaks and fixes on the coding and design according to the input gathered.

8. Final Version Released.

Simple. Not even a 10-step Plan. Saves me time and money.

The total measurement for this project was around: 2-3 weeks from Step 1-8 while juggling at the same time a Client’s website. (Client had priority).

All in all I think this opens a new world for me in the technology field. Getting to know Javascript and applying concepts already known from writing Java (different in tech, but coding syntax is very similar.) Knowing Java, really helped me a lot with Javascript, PHP and Actionscript.

This is just the first Case Study of this newly added feature to my Blog. When a New Project is Uploaded a Case Study will appear in this blog. (Old Projects will get a Case Study as well)

Thank you for reading and don’t be afraid to leave me your thoughts.

Tags: Case Studies · Design · Joel Lopez · Portfolio · typefasterjoel · Version 3