I started dreaming up designs for my own website in high school, creating sketches and making notes of interactive features. I wanted my website to be a piece of art with a depth to explore. Since then I have not only dialed back my ambition but I have also realized the errors of that fantasy. I need to think in simpler terms not only for my sake as an inexperienced web-designer but also for the sake of the audience who will be looking for quick information and a simple. Still, I want my website to give more than raw information. I want it to inspire and spark the viewer's curiosity. I want it not only to represent what I have done but the visions I strive towards as an artist. Can I accomplish this? I honestly have no idea. Maybe I am still reaching too high but I'm not yet ready to back down from the challenge.
Originally I focused too much on design. Lately I have been focusing too much on content. I need to focus on saying more with less, and creating content that fits hand-in-hand with the design. I am not so much worried about that part. What is stumping me is the kind of vibe to give my website. What do I choose for a color scheme? What am I trying to communicate through the background images? Do I want to use photographs or design backgrounds in Gimp? Different pages could have unique feel: like the film scoring page versus the solo piano page (epic vs. nature/relaxing/calm). Then again, I don't want to tug the viewer in too many directions. They need to get a sense of who I am and I feel like a more unified webdesign would help with that.
How do I display my photography? It is going to be painfully time consuming to explore the functionality of my theme and discover the best way to organize my photographs. I have a darn good vision in my head...I want to have thumbnails for each album that expands cleanly into a grid of the album content when clicked. Alas, figuring out how to make that happen is going to be rough. It is also going to take quite a bit of time to sort through all of my photos and divide them up into categories. I could sort them by: Nature, Portraits, Travel, etc. I got way to hung up on fancy sliders for a couple
weeks...I think they are too obnoxious and I am abandoning that route.
I might add a couple...just for fun.
In other, unrelated news...
My cousins at Yoloha, a company that produces sustainable cork yoga mats, are sending me a sample so I can do sales for them in Boston. I have done yoga every day (except Saturday) for an entire week, taking full advantage of a $25, two week unlimited pass. Now I need a class to counteract my sore muscles from all of the yoga I have been doing.
I am interviewing at a bakery tomorrow for a job! It would be part time (2 or 3 shifts a week) but it seems like a nice place to work and I already know most of the employees. The people who work there are all friends and I have been playing pick-up soccer with them for a couple weeks. (Yeah, I have been playing soccer...for the first time since I was five.)
Quick Summary of the Rest:
- I just started composition lessons with a professor at NEC.
- I am writing tons of waltzes for the Waltzdays event with Kathleen.
- I will be starting lessons with another composer and pianist, Megan Henderson, who is a Village Harmony teacher
- I have my first violin student... Wait, I play the violin? Yup, two years of lessons...about 5 years ago. Totally qualified.
- I will soon be buying plane tickets to Corsica!!!
Yay to life!
Clayton
