Welcome to my graphic design Portfolio

Click a thumbnail to view full images of my work

Posters
Advertisments
Direct Mail Postcards
Logos
Invitations
Websites
Book Illustrations
Flyers and Promotional Materials
Banner Ads from www.rings-things.com

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Why do you want a web site?

It may seem like a no-brainer, but having a clearly defined purpose for your site is one of the most important things you can do when you start out. Write a mission statement or an artist statement to help jumpstart your thought process.

Take a look at other web sites that you spend time on and try to figure out what you like and don't like about them. Are the links easy to follow? Do the colors appeal to you? Where does your eye go when you first look at the page? Is the page simple, or does it have a lot going on? Is there anything you would have done differently? These are just a few of the questions I asked myself before I started working on my site.

Who is your target audience?

This will affect your color choices as well as your content. For example, if your audience is primarily professionals in your field, you will not want to have a page of snapshots from your trip to Mount Rushmore. Conversely, if you want a family site to post your photos and events you will want to keep the mood casual and friendly. Your language and color choices will affect how visitors to your site perceive your purpose. You make think that the image of the dancing banana is hilarious, but it may not be so funny to a potential customer who is thinking about buying from your site. The internet can be a dangerous place to give out personal information, if you are thinking of using your site to sell something, make sure that you put your customers at ease by keeping your site as professional as possible.

How shoud I start?

I have a real-life folder (I'm talking actual reality, not on my computer) that I fill with magazine clippings, interesting ads from the mail, printouts of web sites, and anything else that inspires me. Flipping through this folder, even someone who doesn't know me can tell right away that I like bright colors, splashy designs, and tons of texture. My original site had a subdued palette of blues and greens, very professional but not very friendly, and not at all "me." I had almost completed the entire site before I realized that I didn't like it. There wouldn"t have been much motivation for me to work on the site if I hated the final design.

Gathering information for your site

Make a folder for your "originals." This will be where you keep photos and information you want published on your site. If you have photos that are not digital images, use a scanner to get them onto your computer. (I am willing to scan photos if you do not have access to a scanner). I keep a Word file in my "originals" folder with my artist's statement and all of the articles from my site so that I can make edits or notes to myself and use the spellchecker. This can also be helpful if the server where your information is stored crashes. Keeping a back-up version of your site means that you can bring your site back online without losing any time or information.

Keeping track of passwords and files

A quick tip on keeping passwords and files safe - create a .txt or Word file with your login information and passwords in the folder where you keep the rest of your site. Name the document something that you will remember but not something that makes it obvious that it contains sensitive information. Now if you forget your logins or passwords, you won’t have to dig through piles of paper to find them, or risk never finding them.

I keep a copy of my web site on my hard drive and occasionally copy my files onto a disk so I can recover my files if my computer crashes. I used to think that this process was unnecessary because my computer had never crashed before. Then one day, I was working in a computer lab at the EWU campus and the power went out, I lost an entire day worth of work and had to restart a project from scratch. Now I am very diligent about backing up my files.

Are you going to be selling anything?

You may need a business license.
Washington State Business Licensing
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Do you want pictures of your products?

If so, it would be helpful to set up a photographing area in your house that you always use for taking pictures of your work. A plain black or white piece of fabric makes a great backdrop for most items. Try to take your pictures at the same time of day (with the same lighting) and from the same distance to make a nice uniform look for your gallery or product section. You will want to make two seperate folders to store your images, one with the actual-size images for high-quality printing, and one for the web versions that go on your site.

How soon do you want others to be able to see your site?

You will not need a domain and hosting very far in advance. It only takes a few days for domains to propagate (post to the internet). However, you may want to buy your domain early to prevent someone else from buying it first. For example, although I was fairly certain that there weren't any other Selina Shehan's around, I went ahead and bought the domain name, www.selinashehan.com, before I started designing my site just to be sure. It would be a shame to find a great domain and plan your entire site around it then find out that it's no longer available.