Web pages
While web and email design is a relatively new avenue for me, learning this new skill has proven to be as valuable as any other training I have received. Learning html and css opened up a new area of the design industry.
The first role which required me to learn web and email design was Interflora. There I amended existing pages, created pages from scratch, then tested and searched for errors in any changes I made across various platforms before putting the pages live. The very first web page I was task with creating from beginning to end was the Birthday Messages page. Working with the SEO and marketing teams, we established that we could increase traffic to our site by creating a page for this search term. The Birthday Messages page it self was a considerable challenge, because of the amount of content which needed creating for it. However I was able to plan the layout, create imagery and code the page my self. Below are a few example images and icons I created for the page. This was a really satisfying project, and the benefits were obvious by the increase in searches and resulting sales.
After establishing my self in the team and the sole designer for the portfolio brand Flying Flowers, I began to put time aside to identify improvements in my work patterns. Therefore I tasked my self with creating a template file with classes and IDs which when combined would create “blocks” that can be dragged and dropped to make building content pages more efficient. Below are a few examples of pages I have taken from original concept through to final product.
The most satisfying part about learning code for web design, was the fact that I could now take my projects from beginning to end. From a rough sketch on a note pad, to testing, through to deployment.
Indoor plant guide
A guide on which plants best suit different rooms and different conditions in your home.
Orchid Care Guide
Useful tips on how to look after an orchid plant.
Social Media
Another key area in many of my design roles was social media updates and image creation, and in some cases photography. Although not considered web design as it does not include code, I think this is still a very important part of the web design process. Social media is one of the key areas to directly interact with an audience. Anything you put on your website should be communicated across social media too if your brand is to remain relevant. If the image design is not created with the individual platform in mind, the image could be stretched or have areas cut off. I always consider or make amends to images if they are to be pushed across multiple avenues. Below are a few examples of social images from various roles.
