Creative Dimensions - "Thinking Outside the Box" (View as PDF)

            In my “Future Learning in a Competency” essay, I discussed how I have some background in all of the competencies—I don’t necessarily feel like I’m very weak in any of them, even the ones I ignore developing.  I supported this by discussing how I once aimed at being an artist working with computer graphics or (at a younger age) a computer science major.  Though I learn math and programming skills quickly, I don’t really develop them.  Though I was ready to drop out of high school to paint with my free time and though I went to a prestigious art school for a rather intense foundation year, the most art that I usually engage in is doodling smiley faces in the margins of my notebooks during lectures.  I am by no means weak in the competencies of Information Technology and Aesthetic Awareness, but I definitely don’t develop them to the best of my ability.
            I felt it was important to dedicate this project to those competencies.  I do graphic design work on a volunteer basis, but I until taking Dreamweaver classes and pulling together this portfolio, web design and HTML were things I had not encountered in ten years.  I’m a Photoshop junkie, I know Quark and I can get by in Illustrator, but occasionally I’ll receive the work of another graphic artist and I will be dumbfounded by the tools they used or amazed by their shortcuts.  It is a powerful thing to realize that I can be a talented amateur in graphic design and also so far from some of the professional work I’ve seen.
            Graphic design is the only pragmatic way that I can incorporate my artistic and creative side into my life outside of my writing.  When I left art school and dedicated to understanding myself and the world around me, painting and drawing got left pretty far behind—not by necessity or boredom, just a strong desire to do more learning than I had time for.  The volunteer work I do in graphic design usually entails making posters or program booklets—it’s not really rocket science, nor is it very creative.  Most of the work involved is catering details to make sure the product fits the specifications of the other volunteers.  It makes me feel great that I can contribute a technical skill, but it isn’t as satisfying as creating the beauty of a painting or creating a trick to solve a challenging equation.
            Working on this portfolio and making websites for the first time in a decade, I realize that I actually enjoy it a lot!   Like so many other things (including computer programming) I wouldn’t want to do it for a living, but it’s a lot more rewarding than the problem solving that comes with a Sudoku puzzle and when a page comes out as I intended it, that aesthetic effect is really valuable since it is so much harder to achieve than a simple Photoshop process.
            The original goal of this project was to create an interactive multimedia version of my Spiritual Communities portfolio, but between unexpected kinks and trying desperately hard to remember Dreamweaver after not using the program for several months, I fell short of my goal.  It would be easy to kick myself and think that I could have spent more time on it from an earlier stage, but I know that I spent all of that time working on the (more substantive?) essays.  Regardless of the shortcoming, I am pleased with my work at its present stage for two reasons—I did develop two separate websites (www.livemoore.com & www.livemoore.com/india) with completely different layouts and implementations.  The work that I wanted to “prove” to myself that I could do was finished—the designs and HTML coding work, I just didn’t have time to import all my files and link them together—which I would take me about another two hours, so much for time management.  The learning that is evidenced in these layouts is also pretty fantastic—the oldest layout is my working portfolio from Senior Capstone (www.livemoore.com/working) and the difference between the quality of that page and the latest graduation portfolio (www.livemoore.com) is pretty obvious.  The simpler approach reflects some knowledge my step brother passed on to me about modern web design and between that portfolio and the incomplete Spiritual Communities portfolio, I got to implement a lot of tricks from the Dreamweaver classes I took at the beginning of this semester to prepare for this assignment.
            The layout of the Spiritual Communities portfolio is again a step up from that simpler approach in the graduation portfolio.  While keeping the design elements simple and fluid, I was a lot more confident in integrating some of my Photoshop skills in the name of creating the most expressive and vibrant multimedia portfolio that I was hoping for.  I no doubt have an endless amount I could learn in design and coding, but what really matters to me is that this is one more thing that I feel is approachable—I don’t have any need to compete for best web designer, but I feel that I can confidently tell someone that I can make them a website if they need help.