Final Year University Projects

I decided to design my desktop mockups using Sketch, as this is a software I am familiar with. It allows me to connect to Anima which makes prototyping easier and more efficient. As I was beginning to gain traction on my IBS awareness page, I decided that I wouldn't need to include a whole page dedicated to IBS stories. Instead this can be covered by identifying a social media widget and adding this as a separate section on the support page.

Using Sketch, I loosely mocked up my homepage. The purpose of this was to collate some of my already existing ideas for the website and have a page I could look at in it's entirety. I consider the homepage the most important as site visitors will commonly land on this page before any other webpage and is a navigational hub. Therefore I needed to ensure that the homepage is perfectly coded/designed to retain user engagement, hopefully convincing them to explore the rest of the site. This is my first attempt of the homepage using some creative ideas, taking some ideas from my wireframe, colour palette and placeholder images to decide whether these aspects worked well together. After I was liking the look of this page, I decided to mock this up more seriously using my planned copy and adhering to my wireframe.  As I begin coding the site, I imagine some aspects of this mock-up will change in order to make better design decisions. 

I decided to upload my updated colour scheme and explain the difference between these two palettes. In a previous post, I discovered that my limited colour palette was barely accessible for users with visual impairments as there was not enough contrast between the background colour and foreground colour for the copy. I wanted to improve this as much as possible without compromising on the look of my website. Therefore, I decided to make the colours brighter in tone but darker in colour to add more contrast and re-tested this using the contrast checker. This showed that the blue showed a slight improvement on the checker while the turquoise being completely inaccessible before made a huge improvement on the checker. Although the turquoise is not completely accessible by all users, I had to make a compromise. For this colour to pass every category, it would have either needed to be really dark or light which didn't look very appealing. These are the results from the colour contrast c...

I transferred in my domain name from GoDaddy to my hosting provided by Tsohost. As I had purchased my domain name separate to my hosting, on the GoDaddy portal I unlocked my domain name ownership allowing me to transfer my domain to a different provider. I changed the IPSTAG of the domain to Tsohost's Nominet TAG, 'WEBHOSTING' and proceeded to contact the support team to associate the domain name with my account on their system. As my hosting was already being used by my portfolio website domain, the support agent added grumbletum.co.uk as an add-on domain - as the hosting I purchased allows me to have a maximum of ten hosted websites. The domain name was successfully transferred in and added to my account. I can edit settings from the CPanel and the agent kindly set-up an FTP for me to use to upload my website files.

After being rejected after interview, it is important to send a gratitude letter to the company you applied for. Leaving on good terms is extremely valuable, as the interviewer may be more accepting if you would like to keep in contact with them. Furthermore, next time the company have a job opening, they're more likely to remember and contact a candidate who made a lasting impression than one that did not. Sending a letter in the post definitely has more meaning than one sent via e-mail, as a digital letter may be easily forgotten while a physical one could make more of an impact. I would aim to hand write this letter on letter-headed paper, but for the purpose of this submission have typed out a letter instead. For my gratitude letter I would thank the interviewer for their time, highlighting the positive interview experience and reiterating the link to my portfolio. Using elements from the example Dean gave and my own words, I composed a gratitude letter. Adding content that was...

**Published on 30/03/2021, edited on 28/05/2021 (added missing screenshots)** Recently, I've been keeping an Instagram account which showcases my interests and hobbies. This mainly includes products that I've purchased from Japan, completed cross stitch patterns and cute illustrations. My account is called cutecatbeans, named after a cat's paw pad as their four small digital pads resemble beans. This account has given me the opportunity to express my interests and practice product photography which I've really enjoyed!

By using an online Contrast Checker, I discovered that the limited colours chosen for my updated colour palette were unfortunately not accessible as a background colour for my sections. This means that there is not enough contrast between the background and foreground colours making the information on the website difficult to read for those visually impaired. When testing my original blue background colour, it was not accessible with white or black text as the foreground colours had little contrast. As a minimum it is important that the background colour has passed all the WCAG AA standards. Therefore, I tweaked the blue colour slightly by making it darker and richer in tone to add more contrast. This was successful and passed the WCAG AA standard in all categories. Furthermore, the green and other accent colours were tweaked in a similar way as this barely made a difference to the colour but was more accessible for users.

I really struggled to make a letterhead that not only looked appealing but professional as well as keeping the fun aspect of my brand.  Therefore I licensed a simple template on Adobe Stock which covered letterheads, envelopes, postcards and business cards. This template was fully editable and helped me organise where each piece of information should be placed. As I tied to incorporate my branding, I began editing the template to suit my needs. My final design actually looks quite different to the original. This is because I mainly used this as a guide rather than just simply replacing each part of the template with my own brand graphics. I created my own symbols for the personal details part of the template in Illustrator to add my own flare and personality. Creating symbols that I felt worked well with the letterhead, took a number of attempts. The circular symbols simply appeared too busy so with each attempt I continued to simplify the design. Once complete I actually...

After some research, I have finally decided to complete a Professional Diploma in UX Design at the UX Design Institute. This is an online self-paced course University-accredited by Glasgow Caledonian University. The qualification is roughly equivalent to a Higher National Diploma (HND) which suits me well as I don't feel I am ready to complete a masters but want to continue my education further in a more specialist area. Currently there seems to be more job opportunities in UX/UI design and therefore makes sense to go down this path. This course is more affordable than a masters and would not be a detriment to completing a masters in the future fully funded by student finance. This course is usually completed over a period of 6 months with 5 hours per week participation. Following from this course, you can complete an additional qualification in Visual Design named the Professional Qualification in Visual Design which is a shorter add-on course and usually completed over 3 months. ...

Throughout final year, I have been toying with the idea of applying for a full-time job or postgraduate study. Therefore my job hunting strategy document, consists of two sheets. One with options of courses and institutes for postgraduate or further study. I found a number of courses that interest me. Additionally I have noted down companies and job roles that would be interested in applying to, in the near future. As I put a lot of effort into my studies, applying for jobs and potentially attending interviews on top of coursework commitments would simply be too much for me to handle. Both being important tasks, one of them would be likely to slip and after paying such a significant amount for University I really don't want anything jeopardising my degree. Therefore although my job hunting strategy document isn't completely filled with jobs or immensely detailed etc. it doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about my future plans. Making this document has helped me organi...

I noticed that when I would load my portfolio website, the webpage would first load a screen stating that my site was not secure or not private which made continuing to the website difficult for the user. I knew to solve this, I needed to purchase an SSL certificate. Even though my website had a self-signed certificate, this was not enough to avoid the web browser flagging my site as not secure. I had never needed to implement an SSL certificate before, as this was usually included with my hosting. I didn't realise what a pain this would be. I first needed to upgrade my hosting, then purchase a standard SSL certificate. Then via a control panel had to input the certificates details and prove I was the owner of my domain by adding a specific txt document to my root folder. After multiple attempts this finally worked. However when loading my website, this still wasn't using the SSL certificate that I had added. After some research I realised that I needed to force my website to u...

Since my last post, I have been adding to the Grumble Tum instagram page. I discovered that there is a small community of individuals who post and raise awareness about IBS, so I decided to follow them. This topic seems to be quite a niche area, with some hashtags having less than 100 posts.  I will be looking to increase my follower count in the near future, using the techniques learnt during the lemon project. However, in comparison there will be a focus in gaining more valuable connections. I have discovered that there are many IBS dieticians on Instagram, that are promoting their services. Following and collaborating with them on posts will hopefully draw some of their network to my page. As an example, a low FODMAP dietician named Crystal allowed me to post her IBS story/journey as a post on my page. I made sure to tag her in the post, and in return she posted my post on her story. This created some traffic to my Instagram page and therefore hope to bring more of the comm...

Once you have completed an interview, it is important to send a follow-up a few days later to thank e interviewer for their time. I imagine some candidates may send a physical thank you letter, but I feel a short e-mail is more appropriate especially since delivering an e-mail is immediate compared to a physical letter. It would be awkward if you were rejected, and then your thank you letter arrived late. For my internship at Disney, the turnaround time to hear back was relatively short, as there were only eight people to interview for two design positions. Therefore I felt an e-mail would definitely suffice in this circumstance - especially since my manager had already contacted me via e-mail with a design task that I needed to complete prior to the interview. I wrote a message that was short and sweet, making sure to remember the names of the two people who interviewed me. I would write another e-mail such as this i...

To keep my options open and to gain more information, I decided to attend a couple of University of Hertfordshire's Postgraduate talks. Although, I would have preferred completing a Masters at a different University (I like a change of scenery), I thought I would see what Hertfordshire has to offer. There are positives with attending a Masters course at Herts:  Familiarity and total comfort Affordable accommodation Close to home Discount Ian is the programme leader for the Digital Media Arts masters who I know and trust Animation and Games Art masters have a good reputation Therefore, I attended two talks one for Animation / Digital Media Arts / Games Art and Design and the other for Graphic Design and Illustration / Product and Industrial Design. Unexpectedly I was drawn to the Games Art and Design masters, but unfortunately don't have the skills to be accepted onto the course and therefore may be something I consider in the distant future. I was impressed by both postgraduat...

This is the type of cover letter I am more likely to send to employers as the application process has become more digital. Therefore I have amended my physical cover letter to suit this style more by omitting the addresses and subject elements.

Using the same template, I created a cover letter for my Timico application. I was very happy with my cover letter as I was able to incorporate elements of my personal brand. In my cover letter, I included information such as the address of the company and where I am located (redacted). Although this would be useful to include as a physical letter, most cover letters will now be sent as part of a digital submission or e-mail. Therefore I can exclude these parts, which would potentially allow me more room to write content. When writing a cover letter, I keep this to one page with 400 - 500 words explaining relevant information and achievements so that the employer has an overview of who I am prior to reading my CV.

This was the covering letter that I wrote when I applied for my role at Disney (personal details omitted). This cover letter is based on a template that I use for all of my job applications as it ensures that I am including all of the relevant information required to show an employer that I am suitable for the role. In my opinion when writing a Cover Letter, it is important to include:  Your knowledge of the company Why the role interests you, including career goals if appropriate Work Experience and achievements Skills, qualifications or courses that relate to the job description

After putting my Timico CV through Job Scan's scanning tool and comparing this with the original job description I achieved a score of 37%. I've never used this tool before but found the way it analyses for and keywords interesting. It shows that quite a number of important details are missing. This is different to the CV360 ATS checker whereby Job Scan's checker relates what it is searching for to the job description. When reading the report, it seems as though the biggest issues were that my CV was missing mainly hard skills, as well as some soft skills. I genuinely really liked this scanner, it's clear, easy to use and read. However, for more information you need to pay for the premium features. This is a tad annoying but is something I will heavily consider when applying more seriously to jobs. Interestingly, my Disney CV scored higher than the Timico CV with 49%.

Creating a generic creative CV is extremely difficult, as I always tailor my content to the job description. Therefore there may be elements of a job, that I exclude for one CV, that are important for another to ensure that the company is receiving the most relevant information which matches job they have posted. Therefore although I received a rejection from Timico, this CV is the most specific to their job role. Another CV will have different content depending on which skills I need to emphasise.  This is my improved Timico one page CV (personal information redacted), which scored highly on CV360. It includes elements of my branding, mainly the purple and pink colours as adding graphical elements seems to not be advised unless you are handing an employer your CV personally. This is the same CV but converted into a more basic layout easily read by ATS systems. As the columns needed to be removed, the CV goes onto two pages instead of one. Please click on each page to make the imag...

After collating my thoughts surrounding my content planning, I worked on finalising the copy for my website. Once complete, I decided to create a series of wireframes to demonstrate the structure of my website with copy. This was extremely useful to show my plan for the website and placement of assets/text.