The brief was to create a website which included both my own work and materials which would highlight my skills that could be used for my own progression after the BTEC course. The website also included research into creative industries and different options for future careers which relate to art and design and reflections on my own skills. Throughout building the website I kept a simple colour scheme of grey, white and pastel green which would allow my own work to be the focus. For the pages which were not specifically about my work such as the about, home page and bibliography to add a sense of continuation I used imagery from my repeat pattern project as I felt that this created an identity throughout the website and also linked to my logo design. When constructing the website I split up the information into pages which I included in the menu at the top right of the website so that it was clear for the audience to navigate. I was informed by some of previous student’s websites through displaying their work having a separate page for each project allowed me to add the process and individual drawings and inspirations which inspired the outcomes. I also was able to add a small paragraph allowing the audience to understand the background and thought process behind each project . As inspiration I looked at Holly Chang’s website where the first thing that you saw was an image of the artist’s work. The white background and clear titles meant that it was laid out clearly for the audience and I hoped to create a similar effect with my own website. The examples of part student’s websites helped me to understand the type of titles and the amount of text needed to give an understanding  to the audience about the artwork within the portfolio.

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I constructed the website on Wix and found that the editing software for cropping images and changing the colour tones was very slow and I struggled to get the result I wanted. Therefore, I used skills from previous projects where I had learned photo editing. I initially edited the images on photoshop and uploaded the images onto the Wix platform. I also grouped images together first on a photoshop file and then uploaded them onto the Wix software so that this took up less storage due to thee being a limited amount on Wix. This was because if you deleted an image from their upload platform to make more storage space it would delete from the actual website. For most of the project pages I uploaded single images then arranged them on the page as I had with the actual portfolio pages which I sent to universities.

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Throughout the research pages included on the website I was able to focus on long term goals for future career pathways. I was able to understand more about the type of tasks involved in careers in creative industries from the UCAS website. I also was able to look at types of jobs such as freelancing or working as part of a large company and their advantages and disadvantages. Then through exploring other pathways and visiting a degree show I was able to look at more short term goals after completing the Btec art and design in practice.  Overall I reflected on my own skills and researched university courses in the areas of fashion, interior and textiles. Through the website I was able to document possible options in addition to my experience of visiting and applying to universities. I also reflected on my other options such as employment or apprenticeships which would not have been right for me. I researched specific courses and evaluated my two interview experiences. I outlined the process clearly on one page showing where I had applied and the offers I received in turn making my final decision to select the Textile course in Edinburgh as my firm choice on UCAS.

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Overall, I think that my website clearly shows how I came to my course and specific university decision. I think however I could have looked more into other areas of art and design, but I decided to study textiles early on in the process so focused more of my research on interview preparation and visiting universities. I included digital buttons within my layout to take the audience to different pages which was effective as it gave my website a professional finish. I also asked someone to try and navigate their way around the website and gave them a checklist of the specific projects and information that they needed to find.  Based on the feedback I received, I adjusted the tiles and added small paragraphs of explanation to enable someone viewing the website for the first time to understand my research process. Through the experience of building my website I have learnt new skills and showcased my designs in a professional format which will help me in my future career as a textile designer.