A Few Thoughts.

This is my final blog post for #MAD405, and my final blog post as a student at Canadore College. The past four years went by so quickly; it feels like it was just yesterday when I first met Carol and Laurie, two instructors for Graphic Design program, during the Canadore Open House back in 2009.

During my time at Canadore, I met some really awesome people and learned so much… Just thinking about everything I’ve done can cause my brain to go into overload. Especially with all of the work I’ve done during my time in MAD. 

The most important part to me, however, is the people I’ve met, especially during this past year. By networking and just chatting to some of you, I feel even more confident as I step into the “real world” for the very first time, since I have all of these connections and extra minds I can pick for advice or knowledge. And I’m more than willing to help you guys out as well, too.

Well… I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for a great year. It was a wild ride and I had a blast. Keep in touch! :D

And of course this blog won’t be going away anytime soon; I’ll still update with my work and other thoughts about things in the mobile & web world.

To My Future Employer…

A suggestion for a #MAD405 post was to write a letter to a potential employer. I may or may not have taken this as seriously as I should have.

Hello,

How are you doing? I’m fine, thanks. Anyways, I just wanted to write to you since if we’re going to be spending lots of time working together on cool things, I figured that I should go over a few things just so you know what you’ll be getting from me as far as my skills go.

So let’s start with the basics: I’m perfectly capable at keeping myself busy with work by myself. I’m good at keeping myself motivated and focused on whatever work you have for me. I also play well with others, so if you need to get a team together for a project, I can adapt just fine to that as well. Although if anyone starts listening to music without the use of headphone or ear buds, I’ll have a tougher time keeping focused since that stuff is -extremely- distracting to me. Just an fyi.

I’m well versed in HTML5 & CSS3, with developing skills in AIR, Java, and Xcode development. I also tinker with Javascript and PHP stuff as well. On top of that, I’m a pretty solid graphic designer too. I have the skills and the know-how to build responsive websites, too!

So basically, you’ll be getting an awful lot out of me if you decide to hire me. Which I hope so, since I could really use the work experience. The money is a nice bonus too.

Sincerely,

Chantal (future employee)

A Whole Bunch of Web Design & Development Resources

Oh dear am I late with this post or what? Well I’ll make up for it by sharing some cool things…

Anyways, for my 4th #MAD405 post, I have put a list together of some pretty helpful tools for web design & development. These include jQuery plugins, tutorials, helpful articles, and free goodies.

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So… What Am I Working On Now?

Last weeks long winded post was about things that I’ve already done, so let’s look ahead and see what I’m working towards for the future!

Some of you may be aware of Sensible Solutions Development Team, which is the group I’m apart of for developing apps and websites. Right now we’re in the process of redesigning our website, and we have some pretty cool jobs coming down the pipeline that I’ll talk about more at a later date. You can give us a follow on Twitter @SSDevTeam if you wish!

Last week, I spoke about Galaxster’s progress and I will be continuing to improve parts of that game while adding in some new things I’ve thought of recently (online leaderboards, new music, updates graphics, etc) and then I’m going to publish it to the App Store, Google Play, and BlackBerry World. The joys of working with AIR: Build it once and it’s useable across multiple platforms. I plan on publishing a free version as well as a paid $0.99 version, so when it comes out, you guys better buy it! Or play the free version, then buy it. :P

I posted a mockup of what I’m going to be working with for my website, and I’m going to begin the actual coding process later on today. I’m really excited to build this site and I’ll be sharing my progress here as I work away on it. I’m going to write up a blog post sharing some of my favourite web development resources that helps the process for #MAD405, so be on the lookout for that post next week.

Now I’m curious to hear from you guys: Are there any design/development projects you’re working on outside of the college stuff? Let me know in the comments!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working at rebuilding my website.  I’ve gone through a couple of redesigns, but I’ve finally made one that I’ll be sticking with. I really like clean and simple design (so flat design basically) and I think that point comes across pretty clearly with what I’ve done here. The links in the navigation bar will turn blue, as demonstrated by the About link. The portion that displays portfolio pieces will house an image slider that shows off my newer work. I’ve added the bar underneath to for users to quickly go to my portfolio page without having to scroll back to the top. It’s blue since I wanted to draw the user’s attention to it, just so there’s a better chance that visitors will check out my work. I’ll be embedding recent posts from my blog on the home page as well. And finally, I’ll have a footer that’ll display links to other pages and a back to top link. This website will be responsive so I’ll probably crank out another mockup for smaller screen widths. I have a good idea as to how it’ll look on tablets and smartphones but it’s always good to keep a reference handy. I’ll be posting updates as I work but this is what I have so far. I’m feeling pretty under the weather right now so I think I’ll take a break and come back to this later. If you have any suggestions for my design, feel free to leave them below in the comment section. Edit: Before anyone points it out, I’m aware that the spacing on the social media links up top are off. It’s just a mockup so I wasn’t too concerned on it being spaced neatly yet. :)
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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working at rebuilding my website. 

I’ve gone through a couple of redesigns, but I’ve finally made one that I’ll be sticking with.

I really like clean and simple design (so flat design basically) and I think that point comes across pretty clearly with what I’ve done here.

The links in the navigation bar will turn blue, as demonstrated by the About link.

The portion that displays portfolio pieces will house an image slider that shows off my newer work. I’ve added the bar underneath to for users to quickly go to my portfolio page without having to scroll back to the top. It’s blue since I wanted to draw the user’s attention to it, just so there’s a better chance that visitors will check out my work.

I’ll be embedding recent posts from my blog on the home page as well.

And finally, I’ll have a footer that’ll display links to other pages and a back to top link.

This website will be responsive so I’ll probably crank out another mockup for smaller screen widths. I have a good idea as to how it’ll look on tablets and smartphones but it’s always good to keep a reference handy.

I’ll be posting updates as I work but this is what I have so far. I’m feeling pretty under the weather right now so I think I’ll take a break and come back to this later.

If you have any suggestions for my design, feel free to leave them below in the comment section.

Edit: Before anyone points it out, I’m aware that the spacing on the social media links up top are off. It’s just a mockup so I wasn’t too concerned on it being spaced neatly yet. :)

The Development Process

During the second half of the first semester in MAD, we were given an assignment to be completed over the course of seven weeks. The goal was to build an app that was to be pushed to a BlackBerry PlayBook. It could be an app related to productivity or a business, or it could be something fun… like a game.

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An Introduction

As part of the course I’m currently enrolled in at Canadore College, I have to do a blog post once a week until the end of the semester.

Simple enough, right? I mean I’ve had this blog for quite some time now and this gives me a reason to continue updating it. So here we are, back at the beginning with a clean slate. So allow me to introduce myself… again.

My name is Chantal. I’m a graphic design graduate and I’m currently in college for Mobile Application Development. I’m learning how to develop cool things for BlackBerry, Android, and iOS. I also get to spend some time learning HTML5 and new CSS tricks, as well as some PHP.

When I’m not doing design or development work, I’m usually just spending quality time with friends and family, taking photos, or drawing.

I’ll be using this blog for opinion pieces and thoughts on mobile development and upcoming & current technologies. I’ll also post some of the work I’ll be doing or have done already. I’ll probably post some photos I’ve taken as well.

So this blog is basically going to be a combination of a bunch of things that I’ve done/going to do, but I think it’ll be an enjoyable experience.

Anyways, I’ll be back next week with my first opinion piece for #MAD405, but I’ll be updating with photos and other things in-between these posts.

I’m supposed to ask for feedback at the end of these posts but since this is just an introduction, it’s kind of hard to figure out how I’m going to ask for your opinions… so I’ll end off with this: how are you today? Let me know it the comments! (I’m so good at this.)